Donald Trump And The Power Of Courage And Truth

Cowards and quitters never understand the power of courage and perseverance. Liars don’t understand the power of the truth.

It was with a wide grin that we received the news of the Federal Elections Commission audit of Obama 2008. For so long we wrote about the Obama fundraising scams, the hundreds of millions of sewer money, the “largely untraceable prepaid credit cards” (the words of the Washington Post), the many scams – but we were called “racists”.

“Any question in 2008 about these secret donations was denounced as somehow “antidemocratic” and an attack on small donors. Obama Hopium Guzzlers immediately attacked Hillary Clinton as the one to be watched, even as the Obama thug machine pocketed tens or hundreds of millions of questionable donations.“

“The most cautious campaign when it comes to accepting online donations from overseas seems to be that of Mrs. Clinton. Visitors to her Web site who want to list an address abroad are directed to a special page which advises that such donations are only taken by mail and that donors “must include a copy of your U.S. passport or green card.”

“Hillary Clinton was extra responsible and extra cautious because in 1996 President Bill Clinton’s campaign received $3 million in suspect donations including several thousands from China. This chump change amount led to endless investigations and investigative frenzy. So as with everything, Hillary Clinton had to be cleaner than clean and dirty Barack Obama and his Chicago deep-in-mud thugs flung mud at her and then claimed she was dirty. Hillary Clinton demanded a clean campaign but was mocked by Big Media and Obama Hopium Guzzlers and Republicans: [snip]

In July of 2008 we wrote “Bagman Obama”. We noted then that Obama had displayed remarkable fight in his opposition to Von Spakovsky. The gentleman in question was a nominee to the Federal Elections Commission. Obama proclaimed his opposition to Von Spakovsky was high minded principle – but what Obama actually did was neuter the FEC while Obama raised tons of money out of sight and out of possible investigation.

Via loopholes Obama raised tons of money and 91 percent of his donors were not required to be reported to the FEC. A donor could give $199 repeatedly and never be reported to the FEC no matter that the contributions amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.”

Years late, we’re finally getting an audit of Obama 2008. Perhaps it is that courage is contagious and Donald Trump’s two-fist attacks on Obama are bringing Obama opponents out of the woodwork – but something is happening to raise the level of truth-telling. Michelle Bachman, usually not a shrinking violet, is all of a sudden talking birth certificate. Bachman says she is going to bring her birth certificate to the first Republican debate. Courage is contagious:

“U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says President Obama has neglected to clearly demonstrate he’s eligible to hold his office, and says it would be simple for him to do so.

“It’s an interesting issue that has gone on for so long and it’s one that the president could have solved very early on,” Bachmann told Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro last night.

“All he had to do is just answer some questions and show his [long-form birth] document and then have people do an attestation that this in fact is a legal document and it’s over, it’s done. And I think the president has neglected to focus on answering that question for people, and that’s why a lot of people still have it lingering in their minds. None of us can prove, none of us can do attestation. Only the president and someone who is legally tasked with attesting to the validity of that document can do that, and I think that’s what the president should do.”

Bachman does not address the “natural born citizen” issue but she certainly understands that The Donald is sucking up all the air in the Republican primaries and that if she wants to survive she is going to have to poach on The Donald’s hunting grounds. Bachman will not be the first to poach from Donald Trump’s issues pocket.

On the birth certificate issue what we have always demanded is transparency. Produce source documents. Obama has had more than two years in the White House and many more years to produce documents from his days in the Illinois senate. Those boxes of documents, which Obama says he does not know where they are, would answer a lot of questions – particularly the freezing tenants question and whether they ever complained to state senator Obama (those that have no idea what we are talking about should read our Sherlock Holmes style tale “The Case of the Missing State Senator“)

As Donald Trump keeps digging, he will find plenty. The Donald has already found quite bit. Here’s The Donald in Florida this past Saturday discussing matters much of the American public has never heard before (maybe Obama lovin’ Jews will learn something too):

“Despite an almost universal refusal by Republican establishment figures and the press to take him seriously, Donald Trump is taking very concrete steps toward forming — and announcing — a presidential campaign.

He has interviewed at least two people for a campaign manager position, sources said. He is in contact with several well-known media consultants and has spoken to figures in the evangelical community such as Ralph Reed and Tony Perkins.

“The widespread assumption that Trump’s flirtation with the presidency is a publicity stunt is no doubt at least partly true. But that’s merely the point of departure for a man for whom almost every public move over the past 30 years has been a publicity stunt. Trump has, in the past, hinted at presidential bids, only to pull back after basking in the public interest. But in the same voraciously media-hungry spirit in which he has leveled an array of accusations — some overstated, others flatly false — at President Obama in recent weeks, Trump appears likely to launch a formal presidential campaign, hire staff, shake hands in Iowa, participate in debates – in short, run for president.

Trump is making the “types of moves that one makes if they’re actually running,” said one top Republican consultant familiar with his efforts.

The real estate mogul has spoken to pollster Tony Fabrizio as well as members of Larry Weitzner’s Jamestown Associates, sources said. Three Republicans said that Florida-based media consultant Rick Wilson had been recommended to Trump as a potential hire. (Wilson declined to comment on whether he’d been approached or spoken with Trump).

He recently called pollster and strategist Kellyanne Conway, who agreed to set him up with some evangelical leaders.

“I would not discount his viability because he crosses the first threshold,” said Conway, citing his name recognition and ability to put money toward a race.”

“There are two “draft Trump” efforts. One is led by Trump executive Michael Cohen, who traveled to Iowa to check the landscape, and eccentric billionaire pal Stewart Rahr. The other is by former Nixon adviser and perennial Republican fascination-figure Roger Stone. Stone has denied being involved with Trump, while continuing to offer public advice in online columns.

And Trump has made moves that have little to do with getting him on television. He has, notably, abruptly reversed his position to firmly pro-life, something that conservative Christian leaders have noted with pleasure.

“I’m convinced he’s probably going to run,” said Steve Scheffler, the head of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, who said Trump contacted him this past Wednesday in an “introduction” phone call.

“If he comes to Iowa and he engages in conversations in small groups of people one-on-one he might play well on that,” said Scheffler. “I think a lot of it has to do with where he stands on the issues, and if he can convince people that he’s going to go forward on the issues.”

There have also been ongoing discussions with strategists in Iowa, several Republicans there said.

Trump has said he will very likely make an announcement about a press conference on his NBC television show, ”Celebrity Apprentice,” but he’s given every indication to several people he’s spoken with that he will unveil an actual campaign.

Trump’s scheduled keynote speech at the Iowa GOP’s annual Lincoln Day fundraising dinner in June is already such a draw that one attendee is planning to drive in from Northeast Wisconsin to see The Donald speak, a local Republican said.

Trump even swears he is looking forward to filing his financial disclosure statements, which would go toward a minimal establishment of net worth — something Trump has never done before, amid suspicion in the business media about the depth of his claims of wealth. He is also planning to accept donations, associates said, adding he has said he expects to be able to raise a fair amount of money.

In any event, the disclosure of his approximate net worth might not be the immediate barrier to entry that many suspect. Candidates are given basically two chances to extend the deadline, which comes within 30 days of declaring candidacy, meaning Trump could stretch it out for months.

More than anything else, according to those who’ve spoken to him, he doesn’t want to be seen as the butt of this particular joke.

“He gets mad that people aren’t taking him seriously,“ said a Republican who’s spoken with him.”

“Still, while he is “serious” from the organizational point of view and appears very likely to emerge as a formal candidate for office, he will struggle hard to be taken seriously as a potential Republican nominee. Trump may not be in on the joke — he rarely jokes about himself — but he has been a punch line as long as he’s been a public figure. He’s still more of a sideshow than anything else, most Republican insiders are convinced, and his respectable showings in largely meaningless early polls reflect little more than his widespread notoriety.

Best known for the “You’re fired!” catch phrase from his network reality show, Trump is friends with WWE’s colorful Vince McMahon. He once appeared with an in-drag Rudy Giuliani on “Saturday Night Live.” He’d be the first GOP hopeful to have been roasted on Comedy Central by rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and a cast member from “Jersey Shore.”

Trump is, above all else, a deeply parochial figure, and a creature of New York’s singular media environment. He barely uses email, and his usual first reads of the day from his perch in Trump Tower are said to be the city’s two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News.

Trump has left a trove of material for opposition researchers — already, on Friday, Matt Drudge teased the top of his site with a “flashback” to NY1 video of Trump calling George W. Bush “evil” and President Obama “amazing” in late 2008.

Assistants print out news clippings for him, illustrated by a printout of a Vanity Fair item he sent to publisher Graydon Carter, scrawled with a black Sharpie and reading that Carter never got “the Trump thing.”

Trump is notorious for a history of planting anonymous items about himself in the tabloids, among other practices.

Former Daily News editor Pete Hamill, fired in part for his refusal to print Trump stories, once said that a “source close to Trump,” whispering details about his life of business was invariably Trump himself.

Trump is not particularly familiar, associates said, with the national media. He is trying, former Giuliani speechwriter John Avlon wrote in The Daily Beast, “to apply New York City tabloid rules to a prospective national presidential campaign.”

And it’s not clear that he can be, well, handled by a hired handler.”

What those paragraphs mean is that Big Media and the Obama JournoListers brigades are looking for a narrative that will take hold. Thus far not much has worked as Donald Trump is either #1 or #2 in Republican polls. Donald Trump, with all that name recognition was at the bottom of the polls, before he started to discuss the birth certificate issue and hold Obama accountable on issues such as Rezko and Wright. Trump rose in the polls not due to name recognition but due to issues resonance.

Big Media and the JournoListers hope that other Republican/conservative candidates join in on the bashing to give them cover. The question of the moment is how many Republicans/conservatives will allow Big Media to chose their candidate.

“Trump has spent decades as his own best adviser, a skill that’s served him exceptionally well in business, but one which historically hasn’t led to a good end for candidates.

He has never had to submit to the tough questions candidates are asked not just by reporters, but by voters.

He’s given to the occasional boasts of the Charlie Sheen “tiger blood” variety — he told Time magazine that he looks forward “to showing my financials, because they are huge … Far bigger than anyone knows. Far bigger than anyone would understand.”

And while Trump’s brand is based on a tycoon’s life, many of New York’s business elite members don’t consider him a member of their ranks. One veteran business leader said associates are “rolling their eyes” at the presidential talk — and most of the major New York bundlers are already committed to Obama or Republican Mitt Romney.

Trump aide Cohen dismissed the criticism, saying, “While Mr. Trump certainly is an independent thinker, I believe the American people welcome this approach, as it is fresh and unique.” He called the other GOPers “a field of automotrons who all act in a way that is not benefiting this country during these economically troubled times.”

Cohen said Trump is “quite friendly with many of the business elites” in the city and chalked up those mocking him to being “guided by black-eyed jealousy and nothing more.”

The New York Times, that bastion of concern for Republicans/conservatives (and Hillary Clinton for that matter) wants to beat Politico in the race to establish the narrative that will destroy Donald Trump. As Politico declared that Trump was all but in, the New York Times declared that Trump was all but out (Drudge once again assisted):

“The prospect of Donald Trump running for president has sent shivers through at least one highly interested group — and it is not the Democratic Party or political journalists. It is the entertainment division of NBC. [snip]

But no one at NBC has done much serious planning about what to do with “The Apprentice,” because of what two executives cited as pervasive doubts that Mr. Trump would actually enter the race.

“This is Donald being Donald,” said one senior executive who would be involved in any decision about how NBC handles the show. The executive, who asked not to be identified to avoid any conflict with Mr. Trump, said “any decision is still weeks away.”

The track record for “The Apprentice,” which now mainly casts celebrities as contestants, is so good, and NBC’s need for the show is so great, that it would be a virtual certainty to be renewed were it not for the questions raised by the campaign possibility. [snip]

Many political commentators have dismissed Mr. Trump’s chances and have chalked up recent favorable poll results mainly to name recognition — and to his aggressive insistence that he doubts President Obama’s eligibility to be president. Still, doubts of another kind persist.

“Anyone assuming that the reality show host’s interest in running for president is just another one of his publicity stunts would not likely be wrong,” wrote Charlie Cook, the political analyst, who in a column last week wondered whether a “Jersey Shore” cast member would try to run for president next.”

Clearly Big Media has not established a narrative yet. The “not running, just a celebrity, name recognition explains high poll number, he’s a joke, he’s a liar attacking Obama” narrative is not working. Big Media is in a race to the bottom in search of the anti-Trump holy grail.

To understand how disheveled the lines of attack against Donald Trump are, consider the attempt to intimidate NBC into going after their celebrity star. The Times and Big Media are suggesting that NBC is allowing Trump to use the network to go after Barack Obama (the irony that NBC was home central to Obama defenders is not mentioned). That Meredith Viera is a game show host who also interviews “serious” people and she is being attacked for not challenging Donald Trump’s anti-Obama truths is a hall of mirrors fun-house attraction. The Times considers game show host Viera “serious” but Donald Trump is not “serious”.

“Donald Trump unleashed a fiery anti-President Barack Obama stump speech for members and supporters of the South Florida Tea Party Saturday and made frequent references to what he would do as president.

Throngs of fired-up voters in a vote-rich battleground state encouraged him.

While the billionaire real estate developer is not currently a presidential candidate, his appearance at a Tea Party event in Florida might have made the casual observer think he is running.

And yet, unusual moments made Trump’s speech unlike any other so far this political season. He harshly criticized some Republicans, tailored his speech based on crowd shout-outs, dissed hecklers, used a curse word and recalled how his wife urged him not to be “conceited.”

“Trump’s emphasis on his own skills as a businessman and negotiator was consistent throughout his speech.

“Businessweek magazine said in a vote of its readers, that Donald Trump was the world’s most competitive businessperson,” he boasted. “With Bill Gates being number two and Warren Buffet being number three. Steve Forbes stated that I was one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the history of free trade.”

And while claiming there were huge writing differences between Obama’s first book, “Dreams From My Father”, and the second, “The Audacity of Hope,” Trump used profanity to say they could not have both been written by Obama.

“The man that wrote the second book … didn’t write the first book,” Trump said. “The difference was like chicken salad and chicken (expletive).”

CNN, which delighted in describing Tea Party activists with a lurid anti-gay epithet involving testicles and open mouths, is now shocked that Donald Trump sullied Florida ears with a “profanity”. CNN has the vapors.

The conservative Club For Growth is having the Trump vapors too. They think Donald Trump is a liberal because he wants import fees on China, opposed NAFTA. The Tea Party might discover that under those definitions they are “liberals” too.

The HOPE for many Republicans/conservatives already lined up for other candidates is that Donald Trump can be skunked out of running. The HOPE many of these Republican/conservatives already committed to other candidates is that what they see happening is not really happening. Rasmussen to the rescue.

Rasmussen follows up its head-to-head polling of last week for the presidential race to add one more late entrant to the list, Donald Trump. As in the previous poll, Barack Obama can’t get a majority to support him for re-election, not even against a publicity stunt — although he does better against Trump than everyone else in the Republican field: [snip]

Trump does even worse among independents, but Obama doesn’t pick any of them up, either: [snip]

This doesn’t exactly give a lot of life to the idea of The Donald as a GOP savior. At 34%, Trump scored lower than most of the established Republican field in last week’s poll, with only Mitch Daniels, Jon Huntsman, and Herman Cain scoring lower. Obama scored higher against Trump than any other Republican except Newt Gingrich, where he also got 49% of the vote. Obama actually did worst against Mike Huckabee in Rasmussen’s survey, tying at 43%.

Independents in both surveys break for Obama, with a couple of exceptions. Huckabee wins in that demographic 43/35, as does Ron Paul at a lower level (37/32). Three other Republicans are within a point of Obama among indies: Mitch Daniels (32/32), Herman Cain (24/25), and Haley Barbour (33/32). None of these numbers indicate a great deal of enthusiasm one way or the other among independents, but Trump’s 25/48 is the worst performance of all.

The enthusiasm for Trump won’t increase much as other Republicans challenge his record — and there is plenty to challenge, according to the Club for Growth.”

If the numbers for not “serious” Trump are so obviously bad (hey, we thought he had celebrity name recognition and that’s why his Republican/conservative numbers were so good) then what is everyone so worried about? What’s the problem?

If Donald Trump is so dead in the water why not let him prattle on about birth certificates and such and beat up on poor Barack so then the big “serious” candidate can come in and harvest the crop?

Republican/conservative Big Media types are busy slamming Trump as worse than Ross Perot, as curdled as New Yorker Rudy Giuliani, and “destined to fizzle.” If they really believe this, then why worry?

“The long-awaited market reaction to accelerating US debt and uncontrolled deficit spending has arrived. Standard & Poor’s issued a blunt warning today that it will re-evaluate America’s credit rating in the near future unless Washington acts to control its red ink, and that a lower rating — and therefore higher interest payments — is under consideration:

Standard & Poor’s cut its ratings outlook on the U.S. to negative from stable while keeping its triple-A rating on the world’s largest economy.

Relative to its AAA-rated peers, the U.S. has very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness, and the path to addressing those issues is unclear, S&P analysts said.

“More than two years after the beginning of the recent crisis, U.S. policy makers have still not agreed on how to reverse recent fiscal deterioration or address longer-term fiscal pressures,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Nikola G. Swann.

If a meaningful agreement to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges isn’t reached and implementation isn’t begun by 2013, it would render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than its AAA-rated peers, analysts said.

Wall Street has reacted predictably. The Dow dropped 200 points (1.8%) in the immediate aftermath of the announcement, and 29 of its 30 components fell backward. The S&P lost 1.6%, and NASDAQ lost 1.8%, and all three indices gave no indication that they would recover quickly today.

“It’s becoming increasingly amusing to watch the chattering class continue to struggle with the question, What’s Donald Trump Really After? I’m no more of a mind reader than the rest of them, but I think The Donald has given us more than a few clues along the way. Just last week I sat down with Rick Moran on his show and discussed this in detail. If the rest of the GOP field really wanted to be ready for Trump and to know how to handle his sudden rise to political prominence, they really needed to look no further than his book, The Art of the Deal, and a few lectures of his which I attended in his pre-political incarnations. He’s approaching this in the exact same fashion he takes on any business challenge in a hostile environment.

1. Identify a niche market to exploit
2. Drive a wedge between you and your competitors
3. Use that wedge to open a space allowing the customers to come to you

First he identifies the niche market to exploit: Birthers. And lest we forget the most important sector here, the birther curious. [snip] Trump doesn’t need to win over half the voters in the country yet. He doesn’t even need to win over half the Republicans. It’s a crowded field at this stage and all you need to do is ring up some numbers above 20% with likely primary voters and you’re either in first place or close to it. And even the latest polls during the time period Donald was considering a run show that you can beat that number easily with only this niche market.”

While Glenn Beck and the Mark Levin brigades are dreaming of a socialist uprising in the streets, or is it a conservative uprising in the streets, or is it just lunch? – some Repubilcan/conservatives are seeing what we are seeing about Mr. Tea, Donald Trump and the art of the deal:

“Second, he uses that niche advantage to drive a wedge between him and his competitors. In this case his “competitors” are the rest of the serious contenders for the 2012 nomination. And they have almost uniformly run away from the birther issue like pigs from the gun because they don’t want to come across as, well… crazy. Not The Donald. He embraces it. And for a big enough slice of the primary electoral pie chart, he’s suddenly the only game in town.

Finally, he uses that wedge to create a space for the customers to come to him. The “customers,” of course, are the likely GOP primary voters. So how well has this worked? Yet another poll came out this week showing Trump moving into the lead.”

Michelle Bachman does not want Donald Trump to be the only one selling lemonade in August (see that video up at the beginning). Sarah Palin wants everyone to know she likes lemonade and might decide to sell lemonade but in either case she does not want to stop the lemonade sellers and she thinks lemonade is healthy. Willard Romney will sell salty vinegar in August, not lemonade.

“This is classic Trump! Talk about telegraphing your punches… it’s The Art of the Deal line for line. So does this mean that The Donald is actually running? The magic 8-Ball says, “Ask again later.” I remain firmly convinced that Trump’s plan all along was for this to be a massive stunt. He can let it be known that the final episode of The Apprentice will have some clues and that immediately following the airing of the show – when he can “legally” campaign – there will be an announcement. At that time he could simply apologize to his followers, proclaiming that the Beltway system is “too broken” for even him to fix and bow out after scoring Superbowl level numbers for his reality show and vastly boosting his international image for upcoming deals. And he may still do just that.

“Trump can read a poll as well as anyone else. It’s looking more and more like he might actually be able to pull this off. And knowing what we know of his personality and appetite, if there is that big of a brass ring hanging apparently within range of his grasp, would Donald John Trump Sr. be able to pass it by? If he thinks he can win he may very well abandon the stunt and actually go for it. [snip]

It’s genius. Pure and simple.

It’s The Art of the Deal all over again folks. And thus far, it’s showing that The Donald isn’t nearly as dumb or as much of a clown as most of the media and his establishment GOP opponents would like to have us believe he is. Hang on to your hats. Donald Trump just may BS and waltz his way into being the next president. Sound crazy? Think back for a moment to that scene from Back to the Future when Doc Brown was informed that the President of the United States was the star of Bedtime for Bonzo.

“If Barack Obama ever comes up with a legitimate birth certificate that contains no damaging information on it we will all be able to thank Donald Trump. If Obama refuses to ever produce a birth certificate The Donald will continue to hammer Obama.

Donald Trump is holding something potentially more valuable than the race card.

Donald Trump is holding a Trump card.”

The other poker players at the table want to believe that the strange haired stranger with his flashy duds and big wallet is not a “serious” player in the river paddle boat. But once that stranger ante’s up they will find they are the ones who don’t know how to play the game.

* * * * * *

If Donald Trump becomes a “serious” candidate, Barack Obama will discover that the wonderful passover of scrutiny is over. Big Media will continue to pass over from any scrutiny of Obama but The Donald won’t.

Post navigation

190 thoughts on “Donald Trump And The Power Of Courage And Truth”

“Trump is notorious for a history of planting anonymous items about himself in the tabloids, among other practices.”

And this is a great asset when going against the Chicago thug mafia of Waffles.
Me? I’m voting for a paper cup over Waffles, but I think Trump has the best chance to do it.
He’s 15 points behind, but he really has not declared, and people have only started taking his run seriously.
The BC, I hope the Donald keeps hammering at the fraud for not releasing a document that even General Dwight Eisenhowr had to release before he could run.

Admin, you’re so right about Bachmann. I am not impressed with her to begin with and now as you say she is ‘poaching’ the Donald for the issues. In fact I watched an interview where she was asked about it for the first time and she hemmed and hawed and finally came out and said Obuma could put this issue to rest easily.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association is affiliated with the hundreds of newspapers across the country that cater to the black community or, in the words of the NNPA, “The Black Press of America”. The Northeast Publishers Association is a smaller association that best characterized as the trade association for black newspapers in the Northeast.

The NPA has prepared the advertisement below to go in black newspapers across the country. Walter Smith, a director of the NNPA, blasted out the advertisement to many on their email list with a note saying, in part, “We can educate our readership by either running this ad or making a similar statement in our newspapers.”

The advertisement embraces the idea that Barack Obama was not born in the United States — a position rejected by most Americans. It’s bad for Barack Obama when even the black newspaper publishers of America think he is foreign born.

In February I went to the Conservative Political Action Conference to see Sen. Rand Paul. Boy was I in for a surprise. Paul’s speech was delayed to make room for someone else: Donald Trump. I won’t soon forget his remarks. Here’s the gist: America, you are a laughing stock and are going down the drain. Luckily, I am ready to be your president. I’m very intelligent. I’m rich. I’m famous. I’ve stood up against Rosie O’Donnell and I can stand up against the terrorists. Give me one good admiral and a ship and I’ll defeat the pirates. You should be so lucky to have me as president.

What’s interesting about most public figures is the hint of the real person who lies beneath the trappings of fame and office. Whether it’s Barack Obama, George W. Bush or Sarah Palin, private reality differs from public perception. That’s not the case with Trump. He’s a caricature through and through. His speech at CPAC was funnier than most of the dreck on television. I was laughing as if I were at a Lewis Black show. And yet a not insignificant number of voters, Republicans in particular, appear to take Trump seriously.

Media coverage has focused on Trump’s belief in the birther conspiracy. But I doubt that’s the reason many in the Republican grass-roots are intrigued. Name-recognition surely plays a part in Trump’s poll numbers. What’s really behind the Trump bubble, though, is unchecked populism: the belief that America’s “ruling class” isn’t being honest with the American people and is driving the country off a cliff. The deeper you get into the populist weeds, the more frequently you come across people who think that Obama’s entire presidency is based on a lie, who are so disgusted with politicians that they are willing to turn over the country to a thrice-married egomaniac.

The populist tradition is as old as the country itself. And I’m sympathetic to the sentiment that everyday people have a better idea of how to run their lives than political, intellectual, cultural or business elites. But there comes a point at which populism ventures into conspiracism and the “country class” refuses to acknowledge political realities. Atop this unstable political real estate sits a Trump Tower.

The last time conservatives and Republican-leaning independents became enamored of an unfashionable, slightly weird, cartoonish businessman, Ross Perot took close to 20 percent of the popular vote and handed Bill Clinton the presidency. Which do conservatives value more: self-indulgence or the chance to repeal Obamacare, prevent a huge tax increase and overhaul the welfare state? I’m a little scared to know the answer. But I do know this: Trump must be stopped.

Stop that Tea Party populism – it threatens to topple the enlightened finger bowl class at the Washington Post! Save us Sally Quinn!

Let me get this straight. We have been complaining about obama’s election, his hidden records, not just the LFBC (well most commenters have been, not hotair magmt), and his Marxist policies for over 2 years now. We have wailed, lamented, pleaded and demanded that SOMEONE step up to the plate. We said why isn’t anyone asking the big questions? Will no one help us? Has one person with any media pull appeared to have the courage to do it? NO! Along comes Donald Trump, a capitalist success story who says he loves this country, and does the very thing we have called for and there is one after another of ‘articles’ who want to seriously knee cap him and get rid of him. Or they waffle and say things like well, he spoke out on Tuesday, but Wednesday is my favorite day, so he’s a fake. Have we fallen into an alternate universe or what?

That reminds me of the story about the drowning man who asked God for help. The man waved off a helicopter, even angerly shaking his fist at it, yelling that he was waiting for God to save him. Well, he drowned. At the Pearly Gates he told God that he had gone to church at least once a week and prayed to Him every evening, so he couldn’t understand why God let him drown. God said, “‘You idiot! I sent you a helicopter!”

Excellent article. Donald Trump as tapped into an issue that others were either afraid to touch, or bamboozled by the Øbama brigades. If Barack Øbama suddenly produces a long form birth certificate, don’t be surprised if it is found to be a forgery. Barry is in between a rock and a hard place, and whichever way he responds to Donald Trump, he has been played, and played very well. Donald Trump has gotten under the skin of the Øbama brigade, and they have no idea on which way to respond as their tried and true methods of the past have not worked so far. It’s a shame that someone else did not work this issue to their advantage in the past because it would have been a winning issue. Donald Trump knows that. Donald Trump knows that Øbama is vunerable, like a shark recognizes a droplet of blood in the vast ocean. The Trump card will beat the Øbama Joker.

I saw this headline on Drudge, what a odd thing to say, no one says I want to “embrace”, which means you are trying really hard to try and embrace the country she supposedly loves.

What a stupid woman this fake woman is, how can you love America if you have spent 20+ years listening to “God D*mn America” sermons and letting Pentagon-blowing terrorists like Bill Ayers babysit your kids.

So the politicos are amazed that the GOP found itself a candidate that sells what the electorate wants to buy. What a revolting development that is. The whole damn nomination will be over in a few months. What is the fun in such a sudden victory?

I would like to know how everyone thinks Trump is not a serious candidate? What is the qualification for being a “serious” candidate? It has always been that anyone who can get backing is free to run and I have never seen the “not a serious candidate” mantra used before, ever. Rove is already on the job to take him down by claiming he is a joke. I am sick and tired of the powers that be in the Republican party jumping out and stomping people who don’t measure up to their qualifications, i.e. rinoism. Whether or not I agree with Trump or want him for president, he should be able to partake in the process like anyone else without being lambasted by the Republican elite. We can choose him or not, but he has as much right to run as Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney.

Gary Busey may have gotten the ax on “The Celebrity Apprentice” Sunday night, but the actor has no hard feelings toward Donald Trump.

On Monday, he went on the “Today” show and said that the mogul has what it takes to be president. Said Busey, “I think he would absolutely be a good president because he knows this country, and he knows about this situation we’re in now.” The contestant, who had nothing nice to say about his former “Apprentice” teammates, also had a few kind words for President Obama. “I have great respect for the sitting president, Barack Obama. I will not dismiss that,” said Busey.

After “Today,” the actor was also on “The Wendy Williams Show” and again endorsed Trump.

“He’s a great man,” said Busey. “He’s got an awareness level that’s very high, and I’m going to vote for him for president, and I suggest you all do. Because he has the wherewithal to turn this country over, turn the dump over, get out of where we are now.”

The actor reiterated his respect for Obama but added that “nothing has happened in his administration that he spoke of happening.”

Really, how hard is it to forge a BC? One would think with all the talent in forgery in this world it would have been done a long time ago. With Soro’s money they could have all the Gov people paid off and who would have known?

Before he started making these birther statements, I thought Donald Trump was interesting, serious, and an American entrepreneurship and success story. I think had he, if he had focused on jobs and the economy, and economic growth, he obviously has something to say. But I’ve almost lost total respect for him with this birther thrust.

It’s disappointing; I believe he is an interesting figure in American politics and finance, and I think it’s going to be hard for him to be taken seriously.

I would probably say that Romney should not be underestimated. Pawlenty should not be underestimated. The rest of the field, I don’t believe, will have the gravitas or the fundraising strength to compete. My worry has always been a dark-horse conservative without an extensive record, but the way that Republicans are proceeding, the way they are playing up to the tea party, their comments on the budget and their anti-Obama rhetoric is going to sink them.

Richardson likes Willard and Pawlenty – that should clarify the matter for Republicans/conservatives. 🙂

Eliot Spitzer started his show tonight with a whole take down Trump segment. He held up a copy of the same Obama bc we’ve all seen and waved it while challenging Trump to produce his financial records. Apples and oranges? Then he had 2 guests on to discuss what they know about Trump’s finances and each time they mentioned that they really didn’t know much, Spitzer uttered a very loud ‘ah-ha’, like that proved something nefarious about Trump. Really silly.

And, more than likely, this is coming from the White House, or at least AG Holder, because it’s the political appointees signing the orders to decline to prosecute.

a number of leaders of Islamic organizations… were about to be indicted on terror finance support charges by the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas, which had been investigating the case for most of the past decade.
But those indictments were scuttled last year at the direction of top-level political appointees within the Department of Justice (DOJ) — and possibly even the White House.

Included in those indictments was at least one of the co-founders of CAIR, based on “Declination of Prosecution of Omar Ahmad,” a March 31 DOJ legal memo from Assistant Attorney General David Kris to Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler. A second DOJ official familiar with the investigation independently confirmed these details. Omar Ahmad is one of CAIR’s co-founders and its chairman emeritus. He was personally named, along with CAIR itself, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror finance trial in 2007 and 2008. During the trial FBI Agent Lara Burns testified that both Omar Ahmad and current CAIR executive director Nihad Awad were caught on FBI wiretaps attending a 1993 meeting of Hamas leaders in Philadelphia.

A source at DoJ says it’s completely political.

from a political perspective there was absolutely no way that they could move forward. That’s why this decision came from the top down. These individuals who were going to be prosecuted are still the administration’s interfaith allies. Not only would these Muslim groups and their friends in the media be screaming “Islamophobia” at the top of their lungs and that this is a war against Islam, but the administration would look like absolute fools. It’s kind of hard to prosecute someone on material support for terrorism when you have pictures of them getting handed awards from DOJ and FBI leaders for their supposed counter-terror efforts. How would Holder explain that when we’re carting off these prominent Islamic leaders in handcuffs for their role in a terror finance conspiracy we’ve been investigating for years? This is how bad the problem is. Why are we continuing to have anything to do with these groups knowing what we know?
The source adds that because we’re just giving up on these cases, the evidence we’ve collected, implicating many of this Islamic groups in terror fundraising, will simply be locked away forever — which is the outcome sought.

Chilling stuff.

More from the same source in a follow-up.

Are these organizations ratting out the terrorists? At all? Here’s an interesting claim: They only drop dime on someone as a “terrorist” when that person is actually working for the government as an informant gathering information about terrorists. By branding that informant a “terrorist,” it suddenly makes his testimony weak and almost unusable.

That’s what this guy says is the extent of CAIR’s “cooperation” — deliberately tanking terrorism cases.

In all my years working counterterrorism I can’t recall a single case where we prosecuted someone based on a tip from MPAC or CAIR or any of these groups. The only time we hear from them is when they think that someone is a government informant. That’s how MPAC blew a big al-Qaeda case in California. When they thought they had somebody spying inside the mosque, they called the FBI and said he was a potential terrorist and the whole case ended up falling apart. So what do we do in response? Did we cut them off? No, DHS has them train thousands of TSA employees in cultural sensitivity. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard about that. Oh, and they still call us when they want to bitch about us arresting one of their friends or employees or board members. But under Obama and Holder that doesn’t happen so much anymore. Just ask Omar Ahmad.

This will make you want to vomit…where’s the lambs blood?
*********
Published: 04/18/11, 2:19 PM / Last Update: 04/18/11, 2:15 PM

Obama, the Interpreter of the Message of Passover

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Follow Israel news on and .

Passover recalls the bondage and suffering of Jews in Egypt and the miracle of the Exodus, but U.S. President Barack Obama says its message is reflected in Muslim uprisings.

In his annual message, prior to his third straight participation in the Passover Seder, President Obama stated, “The story of Passover…instructs each generation to remember its past, while appreciating the beauty of freedom and the responsibility it entails. This year that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modern stories of social transformation and liberation unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa.”

Having constructed a link between the Arab uprisings and Chosen People’s experiencing the miracles of the Creator that led them out of Egypt and towards the receiving of the Ten Commandments, the President concluded, “As Jewish families gather for this joyous celebration of freedom, let us all be thankful for the gifts that have been bestowed upon us, and let us work to alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice, and hunger of those who are not yet free.”

For good measure, he also added the Hebrew term “Chag Samayach,” which means “Have a happy holiday.”

President Obama chanced into a Seder during his presidential campaign in 2008, when the polls were not in his favor. At the end of the Seder, when Jews chanted, “Next year in Jerusalem,” Obama responded, “Next year in the White House.”

His attendance at the Seder resulted in his meeting with Eric Lesser, one of his Jewish backers, according to Lauren Salkeld, writing for the epicurious.com website. Despite the heavy campaign schedule, Lesser and two friends organized a makeshift Seder in a hotel basement. As they began, Obama popped in and asked, “Is this a Seder? Can I join?”

After having made it the White House, President Obama held another Seder last year, complete with all of the Jewish customs, and plans to do so again this year in the White House’s Old Family Dining Room.

The phenomenon of non-Jews arranging and participating in Seders in the United States has spread so much that Diane Cole wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week, “Is Passover the new Christmas,” referring to the dilution of Hanukah by detached Jews and non-Jews who try to mix the two holidays together as part of “brotherhood.”

Cole wrote that even many churches today hold their own Seders, despite the exclusive Jewish concept of remembering slavery and Exodus.

“What makes Christians’ embrace of Passover all the more unusual is that for centuries—even into the 20th—the holiday’s proximity to Good Friday and Easter routinely sparked violent anti-Jewish riots and pogroms, especially in Europe,” she wrote.

However, the fight for the end of segregation in the United States in the 1950s led to the black community’s adaptation of “Let my people go.” The slogan now is a favorite banner of leftists, who twist it around to apply it to Palestinian Authority Arabs.

Cole also noted that the high rate of intermarriage in the United States has led to a dilution of Passover customs at the Seder, which is held at home and gives intermarried families an opportunity to mix their faiths and sometimes even Christianize the Seder, particularly at churches.

On Monday, he went on the “Today” show and said that the mogul has what it takes to be president. Said Busey, “I think he would absolutely be a good president because he knows this country, and he knows about this situation we’re in now.”

The contestant, who had nothing nice to say about his former “Apprentice” teammates, also had a few kind words for President Obama. “I have great respect for the sitting president, Barack Obama. I will not dismiss that,” said Busey.

After “Today,” the actor was also on “The Wendy Williams Show” and again endorsed Trump.
—————————
I thought for a moment he was bi polar. But then he redeemed himself. Thank God.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill Monday that would have required presidential candidates to provide their birth certificates to appear on the ballot, and another that would have allowed guns to be carried on school grounds.

Brewer also vetoed a bill that would have directed the governor to set up an alliance with other states to regulate healthcare, in a challenge to the federal government.

HB 2177, the “birther” bill, “creates significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for Arizona,” Brewer said.

So we have no jobs here and we are desperate to refine oil and our Gov does WHAT with OUR money? These people are so out of touch with the American worker…
*****

» News
U.S. Gov’t Agency Plans $2.84 Billion Loan for Oil Refinery—In Colombia
Monday, April 18, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey
(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an independent agency of the federal government, is now planning a $2.84-billion loan for a massive project to expand and upgrade an oil refinery–in Cartagena, Colombia.
The money would go to Reficar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil company.
“This is part of a $5.18 billion refinery and upgrade project in Cartagena, Colombia supplying petroleum products to the domestic and export markets,” the Export-Import Bank said in a statement.
The U.S. government-controlled bank says the $2.84-billion in financing it plans to undertake will be the second largest project it has ever done. The largest was $3 billion in financing for a liquid natural gas project in Papua New Guinea.

I really enjoy the way Trump speaks, “What’s up with that?”, hands flying in the air, little stories and words like, “crap”, “chicken shit” and the rest – makes his stories refreshing after the pseudo-poetry of Barry.

what!?!? I remember there were some problems, she couldn’t ask the legislature to fix them and then send to her again?? I can’t remember, but was there enough support to override the veto? I remember in the House there was, but the state senate I can’t remember.

Jan talked about this on Greta last night, she said she would veto the bill if they did the research and found out that it would not be a legal ave. for AZ. Something about it not being exactly like the Federal law, maybe the other choices that would be acceptable.

Hopefully, it will be explained tonight on Greta’s show.
Sorry, I didn’t quite get all the facts last night to share now.

“you bet that ad is confusing. It comes from Obama’s strongest defenders.”

Exactly admin. Us Constitutionalists immediately recognized that the ad is trying to brainwash people into falsely believing, or better yet agitating strongly for, that you only need one American parent AND no matter where you were born to be president. It is part of the years long conspiracy to do an end run around, and/or change, the true core issue of what a natural born Citizen is. This ad goes against our entire history, our founders, multiple Supreme Court cases, nbc defined on the House floor in the Congressional record many times:
Both of your parents MUST be Citizens at the moment of your birth, on US soil.

Obama cannot prove his father was a Citizen.
Obama won’t prove he was born in Hawaii.
Obama is fucked and this pure propaganda ad isn’t going to save their flawed hero.

….The bill would have required, in addition to the long-form birth certificate, enough information to determine the citizenship of the child’s parents and signatures of witnesses, nurses, and doctors at the birth. According to local station MyFox Phoenix, Gov. Brewer released the following statement on the bill:

“I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for President of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their ‘early baptismal or circumcision certificates’… this is a bridge too far. This measure creates significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for Arizona.”

I am not surprised at Brewer’s decision. She telegraphed it on Greta the other night. Her hesitation was palpable when she was asked about it. But as I say, she just lost her next election. And when the time comes that something does come out on the subject, she will find herself on the wrong side of the line. Her own party will turn on her now.

I’m listening to Brewer on Greta, I do not understand why she vetoed that birther bill, I have lost a tremendous amount of respect for her. There is no explanation. Will no longer be supporting any of her pleas for financial help.

did anyone understand her veto of that bill? It was so quick, but I heard no explanation, and no instructions as to whether it needs to be changed, etc, that I can accept, but she gave no explanation.
I just checked the AZ state legislature online, there are enough repub votes in both houses to override the veto.

I am reading on other blogs that the bill gave the SOS much too much power, so when a dem SOS appears it will not be good. OK, that makes sense, but then change the bill so there are built in protections from either side, repass it, and then sign it.

Admin: you have hit the high c’s like Luciano Pavarotti on this posting.

One of the many excellent points you make is TRANSPARENCY which Obama promised but never delivered. In fact he is in breach of contract.

The Watergate episode speaks to this issue. Two rules emerged from that affair, which will at some point be applicable here as well:

i) first, it isn’t the crime. It is the cover-up that sinks the ship.

ii)second, if you want to get to the bottom of it–follow the money.

Here, the birth certificate issue is damaging to him because it smacks of a cover-up. Similarly, the FEC investigation is damaging to him because we will find at the end of the day that foreign interests–Soros, Saudis and equally sordid players were the ones who installed him, and the reason they did so was to bring down this country.

Shadow–if that is true, then what she should have done is told this to the legislature, and asked them to send her a revised bill that achieves the same objective, which she can sign. Has she done that? What I am suspicious of here is people in the national party getting to her. The national party is running away from this issue.

I for one cannot accept the truth and veracity of the statement by the Hawaiian official who assures us that she has seen Obama’s birth certificate and it is perfectly legitimate

=============

Aside from the formal reasons you give, I’d love to see you cross-examine her about just what she saw! How long were you allowed to look at the ‘certificate’? Describe the ‘certificate’. Did it differ from the COLB posted at FactCHeck (or whatever that site is)? How? How many lines did it have? What information did it ask for? Who was listed as father? How many other actual Long Form HI birth certificates have you seen? Etc etc etc.

What is your experience in this department? What were the rules on getting a long form in 1961? What are the rules now? When were changes made in the rules? Etc etc etc.

Brewer said this is what she would do, last night…so it sounds like the folks that made the bill knew this was important to her and they thought it would some how make it though anyway. She didn’t write the bill, so it was up to them to listen to her before and if the guys writing this are lawyers, they should know this had major legal problems.

Are there any other states doing this kind of legislation?
———
Yes, for some reason the number 14 sticks in my mind, (# of states). Hopefully those states are writing more legit bills that are legally sound.

Ironically perhaps, the lack of establishment republican support for the birth certificate issue, works to Donald’s advantage. Sarah and Michelle have figure that out. It the Republicans in general embraced the issue however, then Trump could be dismissed as a Republican shill. In fact, that would be their most effective argument against him, but Republican opposition precludes its usage. The publicity stunt allegation is a non starter. And their use of media whores like Rove, and political whores like Richardsen cause people to wonder why they protest so much. All he has to do it produce the document. Why hasn’t he they wonder. In the meantime, Trump is calling out the corrupt establishment and positioning himself as the truth giver, and showing people that he can not only promise to fix the problems that are sinking this country–he has a track record to show he can deliver.

Brewer said this is what she would do, last night…so it sounds like the folks that made the bill knew this was important to her and they thought it would some how make it though anyway. She didn’t write the bill, so it was up to them to listen to her before and if the guys writing this are lawyers, they should know this had major legal problem
——————————
Fair enough. I did not see that interview. I saw only the earlier one where there was hesitation. If that is what she said, then fine. I retract what I said above. Also, I am like the dimocrats in congress–I have not read the bill. The difference of course is I have not been called to vote on something I have not read/

Greta seems really fed up tonight…welcome to our party Greta
————————–
She is the smartest and most honest talking head out there–which is hardly surprising since she and her husband were Hillary supporters.

Looks like Governor Jindal of LA will sign it, the bill they have there is much more clean cut than the one AZ has. It simply says, want to be on ballot in that state, show a copy of the birth certificate. As far as I can tell, it will not accept the certificate of live birth, I think, has to be a copy of the BC.

oh wow, here is a copy of that LA bill, it is very simple, no circumsicion records, etc. Look on page 2:

(a) An original or certified copy of the candidate’s birth certificate that
4 includes the date and place of birth, the names of the hospital and the attending
5 physician, and signatures of the witnesses in attendance.

If the Waffles admin is stupid enough to sue on this, Trump can get 100s of “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” bill boards, t-shirts, etc.

The AZ bill had the important stuff stripped from it in committee several times, Obot side put in the ridiculous BS, and the whole thing left a huge dangerous loophole. If you’ve noticed I haven’t been supporting or promoting the bill, just commenting on Obot reactions to it.

Some of us have been very concerned about the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) being involved in drafting these bills for AZ and other states along with the “Interstate Birth Certificate Compact”. As one person I trust covering this has been yelling for days now says:

“This Arizona Bill, and the “Interstate Birth Certificate Compact” is nothing but an ugly Trojan Horse which changes “subject to the jurisdiction” to be only ONE CITIZEN PARENT, and then abuses the force of law to forcibly change “Natural born Citizen”, a term of art OUTSIDE the jurisdiction of definition by law.

[..] “This is also a surreptitious, back-door means to validate Barack Obama.”

And much more. There was a huge danger that if it went through as it stood in its weakened flawed state, that O & the DoJ could have sued to the Supremes, have the Supremes bought off I mean rule in their favor, and then we would be totally FUCKED. No where left to go and they usurp the Constitution, not just the presidency.

Relax. The uproar will still be advantageous in the long run. Obama is hiding and hiding some more. We need strong proper bills to address this problem correctly. The situation is *ripening*. Wait until America finds out NH was bribed, Georgia threatened, and AZ manipulated by the administration to drop or delay until after 2012 these safeguard bills just to protect Ear Leader.

tim, there has been so much going on behind the scenes it is mind boggling, I have to keep tabs on a dozen sites just to piece it all together each day. I strongly suspect that a couple of groups that were intially adverse to the AZ one as it ended up out of committee, but did a sorta flip on it for the past couple of weeks by publically supporting it, were simply letting the Trump attention swell for it to become mainstream. I think behind the scenes they really worked on killing the flawed bill and are going to try again.

We have to be shrewd against the sly conniving O administration. Remember, they have committed Treason, we know it, and they know it. Big big stakes here.

Admin – hard day at work and I’m tired – but I’m missing something in your post about the black publishers. It seems to me that they’re saying that a natural born citizen doesn’t have to be born in America. It seems like they’re trying to change the rules to make sure BO “fits”. So maybe that’s why you’re saying that their message is that he wasn’t born here?

I think the SCOTUS better rule on this. BoBo bring out the d*mn long form certificate, and SCOTUS rule of the number of citizen parents needed, and what exceptions there may be for being born off of our land….

All I can say is… Telly, my 100lb Golden puppy, killed a garter snake late this afternoon. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a snake on our mountain.. and I hope it’s the last. Telly broke it neck! ewwwww!

I am a believer in the Shamanism of the animal spirits.

If this is a sign :

“We are many…..and will take a moment…..
….. our wisdom will appear to you before we do.”

Then it is a milestone marker of things to come… good for us;
not so much for Obama..

I’m *praying* that Brewer was made very aware of the sinkholes and traps that were set, and used these excuses for now to veto it until they can fast track another one. Or, she completely caved to DC pressure and is a fool if it was her only chance, if they never do a better bill. Time will tell. We aren’t going to stop pushing states to protect themselves and us on this.

The pressure is building. Everyone can feel it. Obama has some ‘splainin to do and real docs to cough up. His fraudulent Selective Service Registration is showing his fraudulent SSN# on it, which is compounding his fake birth narrative and his fake books. Not looking so good. Blago trial is starting soon, which will drag up Rezko some more. Gunwalker scandal growing. FEC troubles. He can go iron his karma.

You nailed it lorac. That’s exactly what we are saying about the ad. It is clever propaganda on a Save BO mission by hook AND crook, while they try to condition minds that we don’t need no stinkin checks against National Security. Taqiyya laced KoolAid. And what timing, eh?

Many groups and people with direct connections to him have stealthily been trying to abolish or change A2S1C5 prez qualifications, or the term itself natural born Citizen, since before 2004. Something like 20 bills were entered, all failed or stalled. When the same names are involved over and over, it becomes more than a suspicious pattern. They aren’t just finding out he’s ineligible, they’ve known for years.

The conservative Club For Growth is having the Trump vapors too. They think Donald Trump is a liberal because he wants import fees on China, opposed NAFTA. The Tea Party might discover that under those definitions they are “liberals” too.

…they’re also for individual rights and less government (keep those laws off my body and my gun) so they must be “pro-choice”.

While Donald Trump pursues the dead end that Barack Obama was born in Kenya (HE WAS NOT), the actual elephant in the room that most of the media and pundits studiously ignore is the fact that Barack Obama was adopted by Lolo Soetoro and, for most of his life as a child and teenager, Barack was commonly known as Barry Soetoro. The adoption was processed in Indonesia after Barry and his mother moved to Indonesia. The adoption was carried out in Indonesia and not the United States.

2. I wrote a comment as follows:

a. first, to my knowledge Trump has never stated affirmatively that Obama was born in Kenya, rather he has merely said that Obama’s grandmother said that before she was muzzled by his handlers who insisted Hawaii.

b. second, the fact that Barry’s adoption papers seven years after he was born state that he was born in Hawaii does not prove the ultimate fact that he was born in Hawaii. It is just as possible that his mother was repeating the initial lie.

I asked him for his response.

3. A few hours ago, I saw the Hot Air response which confirmed what I had said.

If you backtrack through the hyperbolic media coverage of Trump’s “candidacy” you will note one important fact. Not once has The Donald actually stated that Obama was not a natural born citizen, nor that he was born in Kenya, nor that he wasn’t qualified to be president. He’s just said that he recently found the question “interesting” and that he had people on the job “investigating” it. He never said that Obama had “pulled off the greatest scam in American history.” He said that if this were true then it would be the greatest scam ever.–Hot Air

4. I went back to Larry’s site tonight. I looked for my comment to see if he had responded. Not only was there no response, but I could not find my comment. What I am seeing on that blog right now is a lot of name calling and shifting positions. One day he was very tough on Hillary, the next day he was calling her a patriot. Recently Rush called him a birther, he strongly objected and now perhaps he is trying to prove he is not by negating Trump. But if memory serves Larry did go to Kenya a couple years back looking for a birth certificate. And I do not like to see him dis Donald, when Donald is the only one speaking for the American People.

5. So what is going on over there, those of you who comment there as well as here–pm 317, lorac, andyp? Any idea? Is there something I am missing. I regard Larry as a leader and a fine analyst. Thus I am hardpressed to explain what I am seeing–or think I am seeing now.

Thanks Tony, you saved me a trip to go find Donofrio’s post. He’s talking about the first AZ bill 1308 they had, but this new one (2177?) was similar all the same. Leo has put up some smoking posts lately hasn’t he. This whole thing was discussed thoroughly on a birther forum I lurk at. Very disturbing to see all the tricks the BO people are pulling all over the place to cover for him.

Well hey now. What have we here? The same people who misquoted Bingham, are responsible for sanitizing Obama’s eligibility.

The staff attorney was suddenly on the receiving end of… shall we say, many many difficult questions. To his credit, he tried to defend the position of the compact as not having any direct legal effect on Article 2 Section 1. I was informed that the compact was not intended to help Obama or to change the Constitution as to eligibility. Obviously, that would take an amendment. But the compact is a pseudo amendment in that it includes a bunch of states and it must be approved by Congress.

Should these compact bills pass, the public would not be able to tell the difference. Intense damage would be done to the legal argument that a person not born of citizen parents isn’t eligible to be President.”

Don’t you love the bolded part. They try to force the states/people to say/admit they are doing these bills just because of Obama… while they claim their own sneaky runarounds are not just for BO. And they know full well it would take an amendment that will never pass, which is why they are trying to sneak shit in or outright maul it to death FUBAR. We are being attacked from within. Obama is a domestic enemy and spy.

admin
April 19th, 2011 at 1:12 am
————————–
I have never bought the proposition that the Bush family are Texans. As far as I am concerned they are displaced Connecticut Yankees who came there after world war II to enter the oil business. And Rove? He is like a Mexican feeder cattle–borne in Mexico, grazed in Texas, slaughtered in Washington nearly. But let us indulge the fiction and pretend they are something which they are not–Texans. If they want to make that claim then surely they are familiar with the old Texas saying–whatever you do, don’t fuck with Hoppe. Trump btw is Hoppe. And poor sweet little Bambi. What say he. He says if you bring a knife, I will bring a gun, Rove says I surrender, Trump says you bring a gun and I will bring a cannon plus a megaphone.

If the Republicans are considering running another politician against President Obama, they can expect the same results as 2008 – defeat.

With a possible war chest of a trillion dollars, a completely sold out media and the historic chance of the first ever black president being re-elected to a second term, there’s probably not a Republican politician in America who can beat Obama in 2012.

On the other hand, if the Republicans are serious about winning back the White House in 2012, choosing an experienced, fully tested and highly successful CEO, who has never run for public office before, may be their best chance to nullify Obama’s trillion dollar war chest, a sold-out media and any excitement about another historic presidential election.

There are a couple of good reasons why this strategy should be successful against Obama.

For starters, Obama has never been anything but a politician. And when you get down to brass tacs, team Obama’s experience is narrowly limited to the political arena. Their strategy and tactics are specifically designed to do battle against another politician on a political playing field. So take Obama out of the familiar confines of a political arena, and the Republican chances in 2012 should increase significantly.

Take for example how Donald Trump has neutralized both the media and Democrats in his questioning of Obama’s birth certificate. As a highly successful and very well known business man, who has openly declared he would like to be president, Trump is demanding an answer to the mystery of Obama’s birth. In doing so, he is going where no politician would dare to go in the early stages of presidential run. Why? Because Trump is different – he’s a shrewd business man who refuses to play on their field and by their rules.

Rush Limbaugh said Trump is gaining support with the public because he is hitting Obama “head on,” but that’s actually only a small part of the reason. The main reason Trump is quickly gaining public support is specifically because he’s not a politician, and ultimately, because a financially traumatized America has had about enough of politicians who have proven they can’t run anything without running it into the ground.

So no matter how you cut it, Trump’s biggest asset against Obama is that he will never be seen by the public as anything except a highly successful and flamboyant business man. In short, he’s not a politician. And that’s exactly why he’s the Republican’s best chance to beat Obama in 2012.

Another reason Trump will have great success is that Obama will be forced to play by Trump’s rules – on Trump’s field. A playing field that Trump, and the majority of rational Americans like to call, “reality.” A playing field that will give Donald Trump a huge home field advantage; where budget shortfalls are called losses, not delivering on your political promises are called failures, and the score board reflects your performance on the field, not a speech you gave in the locker room.

And Trumps playing field is not a very forgiving venue, especially for politicians who deal mostly in pious platitudes, promises and excuses. On Trump’s playing field, the stark realities of the real world run over political rhetoric and score almost every time. On trump’s field, it’s full-contact negotiating with no time-outs or excuses; where numbers get crunched, profits and losses are the bottom line, and heads roll on a daily basis. On Trump’s field, Obama will be reduced to no more than another George Plimpton. The professional sports wannabe who actually got several chances to play against the big boys and found out he didn’t have what it took, usually ending up getting knocked on his rear as a result.

Team Obama knows their best chance to win in 2012 is if they play against a purely political opponent on a political playing field. In that scenario, they know they can still manage to eek out a win, even with a hurt quarterback and using the same old playbook. But if they are forced to play on reality field, against a nonconventional opponent like Donald Trump, they may just get their clocks cleaned, and it could be before halftime.

So will America reject Donald Trump’s garish attitude and over-the-top flamboyant confidence and once again elect Barack Obama president, or will President Obama find himself in a dimly lit board room in November 2012 sitting across from the Donald getting his job performance evaluation and waiting for those inevitable words – you’re fired!

Barack is so much like Santa Ana. The Battle of the Alamo slowed him down but did not finish him off. The subsequent battle of San Jacinto did that if I remember my history right. If not Confloyd will correct me. By the way, where is Confloyd? It has been some time since we have heard from her.

wbboei, I will just say that I get a strong gut feeling of violence through the profanity and emotional abuse in that person’s responses. I just have no respect for it whatsoever, and it always makes me wonder how it may translate to violence in real life.

But to more directly answer your question, I think he is stubborn and rather black and white, always strong emotions, perhaps poor impulse control. Nobody KNOWS where this BO was born, so it’s kind of silly for someone to insist they do and everyone else is a “f*cking idiot”.

You may have something with your theory about an (over)reaction to Rush. Maybe he’s freaking out over being ridiculed in a larger forum, but doesn’t have healthier coping mechanisms to deal with it other than opening up a thread about it and bashing anyone who disagrees with him. Some people, when they feel demeaned, feel better by demeaning others.

I realize you were probably looking more for outcome/motivational info, but with him, I notice more the process, the presentation.

Shadowfax
April 19th, 2011 at 1:49 am
Trump-ing Obama
—————–
That is so true. So true. It is why a left handed pitcher has an advantage against right handed batters, left handed boxers have an advantage over right handed opponents. And the real rub is this: politicians manage perceptions, whereas business people manage reality. What the IMF tells us is not perceptions– it is reality. 20% real unemployment is not perception–it is reality. The state of our economy today is not some rock video–it is reality. And people who deal in reality–business peole measure their success in quantifiable terms–score cards, balance sheets and the like. The political class is incapable of this. For them, the test is whether the idea is new exciting and fashionable. And if there is a problem, they kick the can down the road. Simply put, the political class has squandered our future, and they need to be terminated. Time for a big shake-up. Time for Donald Trump. He is the one the country is waiting for.

lorac
April 19th, 2011 at 2:10 am
———————–
Thanks Lorac. I think you are right. Larry is a good man. I want him to succeed. His analysis is generally very good. However, he does appear on CNN. And they are death on the issue. Maybe that is it. But it was funny that my post got erased. He never responds to me when I ask him questions, so obviously I am not part of the clique. That is fine with me. But just as I deplore inconsistency in my own thinking I do not like to see it in people I respect. And, I think what Donald is doing now is so important, that anyone who sees Obama for what he is–and that includes Larry, should not be dismissive of what he is saying. It is manna from heaven.

I agree that Larry is a fine analyst when it comes to foreign affairs and military strategy. However, no one can be an expert in everything, and I think that he reveals his obstinancy and lack of understanding when it comes to the issue of what a natural born citizen and why dual citizens at birth cannot be considered a natural born citizen.

This, complete with picture was aired on Philly station 6abc yesterday at 5:30 pm. Expect to see it everywhere:

Tea Party activist sends email depicting Barack Obama as a chimpanzee
A Tea Party activist in California circulated an email depicting Barack Obama and his parents as chimpanzees with the statement: “Now you know why – No birth certificate!” Marilyn Davenport, who is also a member of the Orange County Republican Party, has resisted calls for her resignation, claiming she was not a racist and had only been joking. snip “In no way did I even consider the fact he’s half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race.” snip Orange County Republican committee member Tim Whitacre defended Mrs Davenport, whom he called “a polite, gentle grandmother”, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Tea Party has faced accusations of racism throughout its rise as a prominent Right-wing movement hostile to Mr Obama, the first African American president. The notion that he was not born in Hawaii is popular among Republican activists and has been kept alive in the media recently by Donald Trump, the property magnate considering a bid for the Republican 2012 nomination.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/8457101/Tea-Party-activist-sends-email-depicting-Barack-Obama-as-a-chimpanzee.html

Three thoughts come to mind.
1. Whitey’s frequently used to call their young children ‘little monkeys;’ it was a term of endearment which whitey had to abandon when the cries of racist hit the land.
2. Journalistas et al have succeeded in appending Tea Party members to the Republican Party. We here, and the legions like us, are displaced persons, belonging nowhere as far as they are concerned.
3. This article even managed a jab at Trump.

wbboei, Larry Johnson is a sexist hot-head who is rude to his readers and is prone to on-line temper tantrums when someone disagrees with him. He is fond of vulgar language which is often overfowing with crude sexual references that I find very offensive.

Beyond that, he sometimes hits the mark with his analysis, but is inconsistent. On BO’s birth circumstances, he has been all over the map and has a history of echoing the work of other bloggers, such as TD, then hogging the credit.

wbboei, your comment is still there (on pg 2). They don’t delete comments there. All the profanity, in your face response is just his style, not that I approve of it. There is nothing new in his post dissing Trump. He has always maintained there is something embarrassing on the BC.

Mortenson denies CBS claims he spent more on book promotion than on schools and used his charity as a ‘private ATM’

Greg Mortenson, best-selling author, philanthropist, mountaineer and favourite of President Barack Obama is fighting off another title: fraudster. The influential author of Three Cups of Tea has become the latest bestselling memoir writer to be accused of passing off fiction as fact.

Mortenson’s book is an inspirational tale of a mountaineer who finds a remote village after failing to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. He is taken in by strangers and three cups of tea later he promises to build them a school. The charity inspired by the encounter has raised $60m and in 2009 said it was supporting 54 schools in Afghanistan serving 28,475 students, 21,165 of them girls. Obama donated $100,000 to the group from the proceeds of his Nobel prize. The book has become required reading for US servicemen heading for Afghanistan.

But reporters for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme visited almost 30 of the schools and claimed that roughly half were empty, built by someone else or not receiving any support. The programme alleged that Mortenson’s charity, Central Asia Institute (CAI), spent more on book promotion and publicity than on building schools. Mortenson took private jets to events where he was paid $30,000 to speak, according to the programme, and former associates accused him of using CAI as his own “private ATM”.

Mortenson denies the allegations.

The programme, aired in the US on Sunday, questioned some of the most dramatic incidents in the book. Mortenson wrote that he stumbled into the small village of Korphe in north-east Pakistan in 1993. But Jon Krakauer, the mountaineer and author of Into Thin Air, said one of Mortenson’s companions told him that the tale of how the quest began was “a beautiful story” but “a lie”. He said Mortenson had visited Korphe nearly a year after his failed attempt to climb K2. CBS also questioned Mortenson’s claims that he was captured by the Taliban and held for several days before being released.

After the show was screened, Mortenson told Montana’s Bozeman Daily Chronicle, his local paper, that “the time about our final days on K2 and ongoing journey to Korphe village and Skardu is a compressed version of events that took place in the fall of 1993”. He said local people had a different concept of time. “I hope these allegations and attacks, the people doing these things, know this could be devastating for tens of thousands of girls, for the sake of [audience figures] and Emmys,” he said

In an email to supporters he said the documentary “paints a distorted picture using inaccurate information” because it based its claims on a single year’s tax return. CAI’s board said on its website that it supported the author, adding that the fees paid for his speeches and expenses were appropriate. The board said Mortenson had accomplished the “real and extraordinary work of bringing education to girls and boys in Pakistan and Afghanistan who otherwise would have no educational opportunity”.

Three Cups of Tea has sold over 4m copies and brought Mortenson not just celebrity but a wide audience for his views on how to win “hearts and minds” in the Islamic world. General David Petraeus, overall commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, and his predecessor General Stanley McChrystal, were both fans of the book. McChrystal wrote to Mortenson in June 2010: “If I’m not involved in the years ahead, I will take tremendous comfort in knowing people like you are helping Afghans build a future.”

The former mountaineer has also lectured at top American military academies and been invited to talk with the most senior officers of the American military about his belief that Islamist extremism is best fought through female education.

Viking, the book’s publisher, said it would review the contents of the book in the light of the programme.

“Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education,” Carolyn Coleburn, a spokeswoman for Viking, said in a statement. “60 Minutes is a serious news organisation and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author.” (try the old style, find out how deep the water is before you dive in-)

It would be great if you took a stand calling him out so we all are aware of where he “really” stands by demanding an answer to your post. Having others make excuses for him is just kicking the can down the road and avoidance for you finding out the Truth until next time… compadre-

You know ding-dang well, if it was me, there would be no question what I would do…

I had a feisty 35 minute sit-down with Donald Trump today in which he dug in on the “birther” controversy, answered Club for Growth’s charge that he is a “liberal,” talked about a possible independent run and answered your questions.

But we began with his get tough approach on gas prices:

Trump: Look at what’s going on with your gasoline prices. They’re going to go to $5, $6, $7 and we don’t have anybody in Washington that calls OPEC and says, “Fellas, it’s time. It’s over. You’re not going to do it anymore.” I don’t know if you saw yesterday, Saudi Arabia came out and said very strongly there’s plenty of oil. “We’re going to cut back.” You know what cutting back means? They’re going to drive up the price even further.

Stephanopoulos: So, what would you do to back up that threat?

Trump: Oh, it’s so easy George. It’s so easy. It’s all about the messenger. They wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for us. If it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be there. These 12 guys sit around a table and they say, “Let’s just screw the United States.” And frankly, the rest of the world.
…
Stephanopoulos: And so finish this sentence. “If you don’t produce more oil…”

…
Stephanopoulos: So, you would threaten to take away that [security] protection?

Trump: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Let’s– let me tell you something. Oil prices might go down. Because there’s plenty of oil, all over the world. Ships at sea. They don’t know where to dump it. I saw a report yesterday. There’s so much oil, all over the world, they don’t know where to dump it. And Saudi Arabia says, “Oh, there’s too much oil.” They– they came back yesterday. Did you see the report? They want to reduce oil production. Do you think they’re our friends? They’re not our friends.

And Trump was even more specific on what he would do with the Iraq oil fields: seize them.

Trump: George, let me explain something to you. We go into Iraq. We have spent thus far, $1.5 trillion. We could have rebuilt half of the United States. $1.5 trillion. And we’re going to then leave. So, in the old days, you know when you had a war, to the victor belong the spoils. You go in. You win the war and you take it.
…
Stephanopoulos: It would take hundreds of thousands of troops to secure the oil fields.

Donald Trump has promised to disclose the details of his finances if he decides to run for president, but not necessarily his tax returns. In our interview yesterday, he laid out a new condition for their release.

“Maybe I’m going to do the tax returns when Obama does his birth certificate…I’d love to give my tax returns. I may tie my tax returns into Obama’s birth certificate,” Trump said.

We covered a lot of ground in our 35 minute sit-down – gas prices, his response to the Club for Growth, whether his businesses buy in America and why he no longer supports universal health care and a women’s right to choose – and Trump stood his ground on the “birther” controversy.

Stephanopoulos: You say it’s all about the messenger. A lot of Republicans think you’re a flawed messenger for the party. Karl Rove, again over the weekend, saying you’re a joke candidate, if you continue to raise questions about President Obama’s citizenship.

Trump: There’s a real question about the birth certificate. There’s a real question about the– his own– his own citizenship.

Stephanopoulos: There– there is– there is no question.

Trump: But– but let me just say–

(OVERTALK)

Stephanopoulos: He’s got a certificate of live birth that is recognized by the State Department.

Trump: George, George.

(OVERTALK)

Trump: George, I know exactly what you’re getting at.

Stephanopoulos: The facts.

(OVERTALK)

Trump: But for some reason– no, they’re not the facts. He doesn’t have a birth certificate or he hasn’t provided. He’s given a certificate of live birth. It’s a much different instrument.

Stephanopoulos: A certificate of live birth meets the standard in the State Department–

(OVERTALK)

Trump: Not the same.

Stephanopoulos: –for any one citizenship.

Trump: George.

Stephanopoulos: There were contemporaneous reports in–

(OVERTALK)

Trump: George, they have co-opted you.
…

Stephanopoulos: You said that you sent investigators to Hawaii and you said quote, “They cannot believe what they’re finding.”

(OVERTALK)

Trump: We’re going to see what happens, George.

Stephanopoulos: What have they found?

Trump: We’re going to see what– that’s none of your business right now. We’re going to see what happens.

Trump told me the birther controversy is not his “main issue” and said he “hopes” Obama has his birth certificate. But this issue is one reason Trump may be sky-rocketing to the top of national polls and is now interviewing candidates for campaign manager, such as Ralph Reed, formerly of the Christian Coalition.

“I’m looking at the poll numbers. I see what’s happening with this country. This country is in such trouble,” he told me.

So what are the odds he’ll run?

“Well, I don’t want to say odds. I don’t want to put myself in that position I don’t want to put you in that position. But I will tell you, I love this country. I hate what’s happening to it and you may very well be surprised,” he told me.

TRUMP has COURAGE and courage is in short supply these days and one of the reasons we are in the situation we’re in today- Trump used a very good word with Stephanopolous… “CO-OPTED”.

“Trump: George, they have co-opted you.”

definition of co-opted:

co·opt

–verb (used with object)

1…. to elect into a body by the votes of the existing members.

2…. to assimilate, take, or win over into a larger or established group: The fledgling Labor party was coopted by the socialist party.

3…. to appropriate as one’s own; preempt: The dissidents have co-opted the title of her novel for their slogan.

If Hillary weren’t SOS a non-political appointment or working for Obama at this point, do you think SHE would allow herself to be coopted by others because of their loyalty to something or someone other than the Truth? I dare say, I wouldn’t be here posting if I thought there was even a remote possibility she would ‘go along just to get along’ with the crowd…

In ABC/WashPost poll, only 28 percent say they would “definitely” vote to reelect Obama in 2012. Obama doing worse than December. The number who say now that they will not vote for Obama is 45 percent. (very very high for a re-elect)

admin
April 18th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
GonzoTx, that may be, but why didn’t she fix those problems with the legislature before they passed the bill?
&&&&&&&&&

Exactly. From the link admin posted, are some comments:

1. sorry, but I am very annoyed at Gov Brewer, very!, I liked her, I listned to her on Greta’s show just now, she didn’t explain anything, if there was something that needs 2 b changed in the bill, etc, and then sent to her again, I accept that, but she said nothing as to why she vetoed except it causes more problems for AZ, how the hell is asking for someone’s naturalization papers or their BC “causing more problems”? ugh! I am very annoyed at her, and thought she was one tough lady, she gave no concrete explanation of that veto!

2. 1. Governor Brewer said the “birther” bill was a distraction.
+++
A distraction ? Really ?
From what exactly ?
Is it so difficult to walk AND chew gum at the same time now ?

3. I believe there is a shadow government running things. They CAN make the politicians submit.

Bwahahaaha I was wondering when Trump would tie his tax returns they want so damn bad to the phantom birth cert. Go Trump

Betty, no I don’t know of any ‘groups’ that are defending BO on this per se. When I say the same names over and over I mean flat out in the Congressional record. Bills entered to change nbc or prez requirements. Even ole Orrin Hatch entered a bill in 2003-4, that naturalized citizens here for 20 years could become prez. There has been a concerted effort to make one parent will be good enough for nbc. Over my dead body. All to cover for Obama.

If I were doing a senate investigation I would start with squarely with Congressman Eni Faleomavaega(Am Samoa) that took a contingent with him to Indonesia and whereever in 2007 to buy up and obtain all records they could find on his good buddy BO. I’d bet a copy of his foreign birth cert is sitting in Am Samoa right now. Then I’d be hauling in Claire Mcaskill, Dorgan, Akaka, Inouye, Abercrombie, Conrad, Coburn, Tester, Barney Frank, Pelosi, Schakowsky, and a few others. Most of these same names show up on all of the Native American committees too, which have been pushing “native” status for BO to the point they used that word on his FTS site (after they yanked the NBC original “smear”). You have to connect the dots from the Dept of Interior, the tribes & BIA, committee members and related bills, and the Akaka Bill. And the Akaka bill is key to the dates that Fukino released her bullshit statements.

So far for “proof” for BO all they have is:
1. the SR 511 where they slipped in this false crap: “Whereas previous presidential candidates were born outside of the United States of America and were understood to be eligible to be President;”
2. The Akaka Bill that Abercrombie pushed where they state Obama was born in HI
3. The Obama letter to Kap Hosptial claiming he was born there but the letter is locked up. Abercrombie used it for fund raising which is a felony.
4. The infamous COLB jpg. A photoshopped picture is their solid proof. They say we are conspiracy theorists on a level with UFO hunters. Yet all they have and believe in are some little glowing green pixels floating on their moon monitor.

Then we have Tommy Vietor the BO camp spokesthug, and Gibbs. Vietor claims he emailed out the alledged COLB to King KosSucker and Politifact, Gibbs claims he put it on the web. In this case its not a point of who’s lying, I think they both did it indeed.

That’s just a modest start. We need RICO lawyers and Grand Juries. On top of everything else we discovered the huge scandal they have been allowing foreign born children to get HI COLB’s. If THAT isn’t a national security issue, I don’t know what is.

Obama donated $100,000 to Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson’s Charity in schools fraud row.
What is it about fake memoirs that make celebs fall for them? Remember Oprah promoting James Frey?
And everyone (except us) falling for Dreams of My Father?

Hillary is back and busy running our country while Mo and BO are back on the fund raising scheme.As the German soldiers used to say as they surrenderd at the Bulge “ALLES KAPUT”.He and MO are filling up their stash that his loyal followers are waiting for Restitution Retribution REdistribution or Revolution.It is time for Tony Rezko to start singing back in our new capitol. Chicago Chicago Chicago.

UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS BILL BURNS:
11:00 a.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with former Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Pierre Buyoya of Burundi, and Abdulsalami Abubakar of Nigeria, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:45 a.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Colombian Attorney General Viviane Morales, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

UNDER SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS JUDITH MCHALE:
9:15 a.m. Under Secretary McHale joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with the Assistant Secretaries, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

UNDER SECRETARY FOR DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS MARIA OTERO:
9:15 a.m. Under Secretary Otero joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with the Assistant Secretaries, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:30 a.m. Under Secretary Otero delivers remarks to the Brazilian parliamentary delegation on science, technology and innovation, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:00 p.m. Under Secretary Otero hosts a roundtable with democracy non-governmental organizations to discuss the Middle East, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

UNDER SECRETARY FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS ELLEN TAUSCHER:
9:15 a.m. Under Secretary Tauscher joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with the Assistant Secretaries, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS WILLIAM BROWNFIELD:
12:15 p.m. Assistant Secretary Brownfield meets with Colombian Attorney General Viviane Morales, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR VERIFICATION, COMPLIANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION ROSE GOTTEMOELLER:
6:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Gottemoeller speaks to students from the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS KERRI-ANN JONES:

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER:
Ambassador Verveer is on foreign travel to Egypt, Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank through April 22 to meet with senior government officials, business representatives, non-governmental organizations and women’s organizations.

Because I love this quote, a repeat delish crumb with me coffee. Dated Aug 4, 2008 (17 days before Berg’s first lawsuit was filed) Bill Clinton said this:

“I never was mad at Sen. Obama,” the former president said. “I think everybody’s got a right to run for president who qualifies under the Constitution. And I’d be the last person to begrudge anybody their ambition.”

It’s not exactly surprising for a candidate to remember past election performances a little better than they actually were. (Ahem.)

Yesterday, during a round of television interviews with local affiliates, Obama told a reporter from a Dallas station that in 2008 he lost Texas by “a few” points; the interviewer corrected him by noting it “it was about ten.”

Another reason Trump will have great success is that Obama will be forced to play by Trump’s rules – on Trump’s field. A playing field that Trump, and the majority of rational Americans like to call, “reality.” A playing field that will give Donald Trump a huge home field advantage; where budget shortfalls are called losses, not delivering on your political promises are called failures, and the score board reflects your performance on the field, not a speech you gave in the locker room.

And Trumps playing field is not a very forgiving venue, especially for politicians who deal mostly in pious platitudes, promises and excuses. On Trump’s playing field, the stark realities of the real world run over political rhetoric and score almost every time. On trump’s field, it’s full-contact negotiating with no time-outs or excuses; where numbers get crunched, profits and losses are the bottom line, and heads roll on a daily basis. On Trump’s field, Obama will be reduced to no more than another George Plimpton. The professional sports wannabe who actually got several chances to play against the big boys and found out he didn’t have what it took, usually ending up getting knocked on his rear as a result.

**************************************
so, so true…T is going to be able to nail O as inexperienced and INEFFECTIVE (his choice word for O) and then use example after example to prove that O is:

too easily destracted…too unfocused for these crisis times as well as having
ambition that lives in O’s alternate reality of “make-believe”…and blow the
O myth to smithereens…

*****************************

also…when will the MSM and establishment politicians learn…we saw the evolution of PUMA and the Tea Party…because in the 21st century with the 21st century media and communication available…people are no longer going to be controlled (all we have to do is look at what is happening all around the world to see that…why would we different here in the USA)…and i this climate, people will decide and make their choices all by themselves…

…so the more the MSM and establishment repubs try to tell the public that T is a buffon, a joke, not serious about running, pulling a publicity stunt, bla, bla, bla…the more the people will choose if they want T…and the polls will continue to register and the crowds will get bigger…while, btw…O continues to drop in the polls and lose the confidence of the people, especially on the economy…

…and basically all the other repub candidates fade into the blurred background…

President Obama has troubles with voters in Texas, and, apparently, with interviewers from the Lone Star State as well.

“Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?” Obama told reporter Brad Watson after an interview with WFAA-TV of Dallas, one of four interviews with local television stations at the White House on Monday.

The exchange is toward the end of the video.

At one point, Watson asked the president: “Why do you think you’re so unpopular in Texas?”

After some jousting about the size of his loss in Texas in 2008 — the president said it was “a few percentage points,” but it was more like 11 — Obama told his interviewer: “If what you’re telling me is that Texas is a conservative state, you’re absolutely right.”

Obama also fired back at criticism from conservative Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“Gov. Perry helped balance his budget with about $6 billion worth of federal help — which he happily took — and then started blaming the members of Congress who had offered that help,” Obama said.

Obama also bristled at claims that his administration skipped Houston in the award of space shuttle orbiters and favored states that could help his re-election.

“That’s wrong,” the president stated. “That had nothing to do with it; the White House had nothing to do with it.”

When Watson persisted, Obama said, “I just said that was wrong,” and, later, “I just said that wasn’t true.”

Obama also spoke Monday with television interviewers from Denver, Indianapolis, and Raleigh, N.C.

On another issue of interest to Texas — immigration — Obama said he still has high hopes for congressional legislation reforming the system.

“The question is going to be, are we going to be able to find some Republicans who can partner with me and others to get this done once and for all instead of using it as a political football?,” Obama said.

I need to correct my list above. It was the 50th Anniversary of Hawaii Statehood that Abercrombie slipped in the Obama born here I tell you! clause. Obama used the Akaka bill as cover for a more legal “native sovereignty” status, just as he used the Crow tribe for NA “native” sovereignty. And puts on his own site he’s merely a “native citizen”.

This life may be nothing more than a series of coincidences with no connection between them–just random events in a universe governed not by Newtons Laws or Einstein’s formula, but the theory of chaos, and anyone who tries to draw correlations, connection and cause and effect relationships for the perceived loss of the American Dream–the idea that your children will be better off than you is what? . . . why of course a conspiracy nut. Just ask the little fucking maggot George Step and Fetch–the tenniest weenie on the tellie except for that mini dickhead Rrrrrrrrrrrratboy Chuckie Todd, with his darling little goteee. The two of them are competitors in the most adolecent 40 year old contest, and although it is generally good to be thought of as young who wants to be seen as a pre pubescent for life, like those two?

I love Trump’s answers to the whiner that worries, “…ah, dah, wouldn’t that be stealing their oil. Waa, we would have to put a gazillion soldiers in the oil fields to protect them….wa….”

Jeeze, the Trumpster makes these babies look like total morons.

(from Mrs. S)

….Trump: Oh, it’s so easy George. It’s so easy. It’s all about the messenger. They wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for us. If it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be there. These 12 guys sit around a table and they say, “Let’s just screw the United States.” </b)And frankly, the rest of the world. (Could Trump put it more bluntly? I think not.) 😉
…
Stephanopoulos: And so finish this sentence. “If you don’t produce more oil…”

To continue along that happy line consider the case of the illustrious Bush family–or should I say dynasty. The scion of that family was of course an uber capitalist who was–how shall I put it–not opposed in principle or in practice to doing business with Hitler. After all his money was as good as anyones–shades of Undershaft in Shaw’s production Major Barbara. And his son Poppy? When he vomited in the lap of the Japanese Ambassador there were those who said that was his finest moment as president. Better than even read my lips. And his son W? What can we possibly say about him that has not already been said, except to repeat Trump’s sage observation that his worst offense was he gave us Obama. Now, let me connect the dots here. You need to know what these people are capable of. From what I can tell they are very dirty players, unless you subscribe to the theory of chaos:

1. Perot runs against Bush. Suddenly, mysteriously, he drops out of the race. The only thing he will say it is the fault of Bush and the Bush people are going after his daughter. Were those the delusions of a toxic mind, or was there something to it. Perot’s success as a businessman suggests the latter.

2. McCain runs against Bush. He goes to South Carolina. There he finds rumors abound about a miscenationist union, and a black child. All bullshit courtesy of Bush operative Carl Rove. I was told this by senior McCain people and I have no doubt it is true.

3. Now you see Rove again. He is stating affirmatively, on behalf of the Bush dynasty whom he represents that Trump will not be “hired” by the Party as he puts it. Who the fuck is he or the Bush family to tell us republicans, democrats, independents to say who will or will not be hired. As Marc Anthony said: “mischief thou art afoot”. And Donald, watch your right flank as well as your left. If you need to fight the Bush family there is plenty of stuff you can dig up.

BTW, he was on Trump’s show, Trump liked him and thought he had courage to keep on fighting.

CHICAGO (WLS) – On the day before his federal retrial, former Governor Rod Blagojevich is accusing the government of leaking information about Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. having a mistress.

Blagojevich made the explosive allegation on WLS Radio’s Don and Roma Show Tuesday morning. The report about Jackson’s mistress came after Jackson was on with Don and Roma last September where he told the fed’s to “bring it on.”

“Then all of a sudden, somebody leaked and I’m not so sure that the government is supposed to be leaking information on FBI interviews but they then embarrassed him and they leaked his FBI 302, I believe it’s them, I’m not sure but it sure looks like it,” Blagojevich said.

Blagojevich also said he’s not sure if he’ll testify in this retrial even though his brother Robert Blagojevich said he should.

“That’s great advice and I would expect that that’s a very strong possibility. My brother’s absolutely right and it’s more than reasonable doubt. It’ll show innocence,” Blagojevich said.

Blagojevich has complained about certain tapes and other evidence Judge James Zagel does not want to allow but Zagel has said he will let a lot of that evidence in if Blagojevich takes the stand.

Blagojevich said one of the biggest mistakes in his first trial was promising that he would take the stand in his own defense.

“I thought I was going to do that the first time and nothing’s changed. I would hope to do it the second time. I think one of the thing’s probably that we shouldn’t have done is say with complete and total certainty that was going to happen,” Blagojevich said.

Finally something the View can agree on, even the Rep, Obama was born in America, and Trump is all wrong. Their explaination, the short form was what was required when Obama was born, so that is the official document. Now where did they get that from.

I would venture to bet that Blago gave T an ‘earful’ of insider info re: hardcore, insider, thuggery Chicago politics and O…

…for all we know, T was beginning his plan to run when he had Blago on his show and got an insider’s line to the dirty little secrets of chicago that no one is supposed to ever know about…bad call with T around…T has already begun the Rezco tease…

The government of the United States declared today they have tired of the Rod Blagojevich road show.

Prosecutor Reid Schar asked a federal judge to rein in the impeached former governor, accusing Blagojevich of using his frequent public appearances as a calculated strategy to taint the jury for his upcoming trial.

“At some point, enough is enough,” Schar told judge James Zagel. “If he wants to continue to lie, he ought to be called on it.”

At issue, is the former governor’s continuing assertion that prosecutors are withholding tapes which might bolster his claims of innocence. Schar said Blagojevich knows it is the judge himself who has ruled on the admissibility of certain tapes, not the prosecution team.

“This is part of his attempt to poison what is going on,” Schar said, describing Blagojevich’s continuing public comments as “clear fabrications.”

Zagel stopped short of an outright gag order on Blagojevich, but said it would be “useful for the defendant to restrain himself.”

“He could, if he has not already done so, step over the line,” Zagel said. “You can consider my remarks today as a red flag.”

Zagel has indicated that some of the tapes in question can be played, if Blagojevich testifies. So far, the former governor’s defense team has declined to say if he will take the stand. But many observers agree that would be a calculated risk.

One of those observers is James Matsumoto, the jury foreman from Blagojevich’s first trial.

“He’s such a volatile person, that I think the prosecutors can goad him into saying something he could truly regret,” Matsumoto said, declaring that he believes it would be a big mistake for Blagojevich to take the stand in his upcoming trial.

At the same time, Matsumoto said he is convinced that if Blagojevich is attempting to taint his incoming jury, it will fall on deaf ears.

“It’s not effective, but I do think that’s his intent,” Matsumoto said. “I think jurors are smart enough to tell when someone is trying to feed them a line.”

By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — He ran as the anti-Bush.

Silver-tongued, not tongue-tied. A team player on the world stage, not a lone cowboy. A man who’d put a stop to reckless Bush policies at home and abroad. In short, Barack Obama represented Change.

Well, that was then. Now, on one major policy after another, President Barack Obama seems to be morphing into George W. Bush.

On the nation’s finances, the man who once ripped Bush as a failed leader for seeking to raise the nation’s debt ceiling now wants to do it himself.

On terrorism, he criticized Bush for sending suspected terrorists to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and denying them access to U.S. civilian courts. Now he says he’ll do the same.

On taxes, he called the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy wrong, and lately began calling again to end them. But in December he signed a deal with Republicans to extend them for two years, and recently he called the entire tax cut package good for the country.

And on war, as a candidate he said that the president didn’t have authority to unilaterally attack a country that didn’t pose an imminent threat to the U.S., and even then the president should always seek the informed consent of Congress. Last month, without a vote in Congress, he attacked Libya, which didn’t threaten the U.S.

Big differences remain between Obama and Bush, to be sure. His two nominees to the Supreme Court differ vastly from Bush’s picks. Obama does want to end the tax cuts for the wealthy. He also pushed through a massive overhaul of the nation’s health insurance system.

Yet even on health insurance, his stand wasn’t so much a reversal of Bush’s approach as an escalation. Bush also pushed through a massive expansion of Medicare by adding a costly prescription drug benefit — at the time, the biggest expansion of a federal entitlement since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Indeed, some of the differences between the two presidents are measured in gray, not black and white as once seemed the case.

Some of the changes in Obama can be attributed to the passion of campaign rhetoric giving way to the realities of governing, analysts say.

“He is looking less like a candidate and more like a president,” said Dan Schnur, the director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. “He has discovered that it’s much easier to make promises on the campaign trail than it is to keep them as president.”

At the same time, some of the surprising continuity of Bush-era policies can be tied to the way Bush and events set the nation’s course, particularly on foreign policy.

“Morphing into Bush was not a willful act,” said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “It was acquiescence to the policies his predecessor shaped and the cruel realities that Obama inherited.”

For example, Obama found he couldn’t easily close the prison at Guantanamo Bay because he couldn’t find a place, abroad or at home, willing to take all the terrorist suspects held there.

“Bush created, on the military and security side, new realities from which no successor, Democrat or Republican, could depart, “Miller said. “It’s like turning around an aircraft carrier. It cannot happen quickly.”

Among the ways Obama has reversed his earlier promises and adopted, extended or echoed Bush policies:

DEBT

In 2006, Bush had cut taxes, gone to war, and expanded Medicare, and increased the national debt from $5.6 trillion to $8.2 trillion. He needed approval from Congress to raise the ceiling for debt to $9 trillion.

The Senate approved the increase by a narrow vote of 52-48.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., voted no.

“Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally,” Obama said in 2006. “Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

Now Obama’s on the other side. He’s increased the national debt to $14 trillion, and needs Congress to approve more debt. Moreover, Obama’s aides now say that congressional meddling to use that needed vote to wrangle budget concessions from the White House would be inappropriate and risk financial Armageddon.

What about Obama’s own vote against the president in a similar situation? A mistake, the White House said.

TAXES

As a senator and presidential candidate, Obama opposed extending the Bush tax cuts on incomes greater than $250,000 a year past their expiration on Dec., 31, 2009.

In 2007, he said he was for “rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the top 1 percent of people who don’t need it.” In a 2008 ad, he said, “Instead of extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest, I’ll focus on you.”

As president, Obama proposed letting those tax cuts expire as scheduled, while also proposing to make permanent the Bush tax cuts for incomes of less than $250,000.

But he didn’t get Congress to approve that. When the issue came to a head last December, Republicans insisted on extending all of the tax cuts or none, and Obama went along lest the tax cuts on incomes below $250,000 expire even briefly. His final deal with the Congress also added a one-year cut in the payroll tax for Medicare and Social Security.

“What all of us care about is growing the American economy and creating jobs for the American people,” Obama said. “Taken as a whole, that’s what this package of tax relief is going to do. It’s a good deal for the American people.”

He said again last week that he wants to let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire, this time on Dec. 31, 2012.

Most pointedly, he said he’d close the prison in Cuba and try suspected terrorists in civilian courts, not in military tribunals.

“I have faith in America’s courts,” he said in a 2007 speech. “As president, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists.”

He ran into a torrent of opposition, however. Members of Congress balked at transferring suspected terrorists to U.S. prisons. New Yorkers balked when his administration said it would try accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court in lower Manhattan.

Last month, he changed course, saying he’d keep Guantanamo Bay open, and would try Mohammed before a military court.

snip

there is a nice graphic there of the morphing O to Bush and of O then and now…

In his speech last week, President Obama called for higher taxes on the American people. But just in case a reported $2 trillion over the next ten years isn’t enough to bring deficits under 2.8 percent of GDP (as they surely won’t be, since Congress will just spend all the new tax revenue), he also wants to impose an automatic tax hike “trigger” on top of that:

Now, in the coming years, if the recovery speeds up and our economy grows faster than our current projections, we can make even greater progress than I’ve pledged here. But just to hold Washington — and to hold me — accountable and make sure that the debt burden continues to decline, my plan includes a debt failsafe. If, by 2014, our debt is not projected to fall as a share of the economy -– if we haven’t hit our targets, if Congress has failed to act -– then my plan will require us to come together and make up the additional savings with more spending cuts and more spending reductions in the tax code. That should be an incentive for us to act boldly now, instead of kicking our problems further down the road.

What would this tax hike “trigger” look like? One clue can be found in President Obama’s own Simpson-Bowles commission. This model is also being considered by Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and the rest of the “Gang of Six.” Here’s how that report describes the “trigger”:

To ensure Congress moves quickly to enact comprehensive tax reform, the Commission recommends enacting a “failsafe” that will automatically trigger should Congress and the Administration not succeed in enacting legislation by 2013 that meets specified revenue targets. If Congress and the Administration do not act, the failsafe would impose either: 1) an across-the-board reduction of itemized deductions, above-the-line deductions, non-refundable credits for individuals, the income tax exclusion for employer-provided health care, general business credits, the domestic production activities deduction beginning in 2013 and increasing over time to raise $80 billion in FY 2015 and $180 billion in FY 2020; or 2) a trigger which reduced tax expenditures further and moved rates and expenditures down toward the levels specified in Recommendation 2.1, assuming such a trigger met the same revenue and progressivity targets.

What this means is that every deduction and credit in the code (including for those making less than $250,000) will face an across-the-board “haircut” in 2014 (2013 in the commission plan). Nothing would be spared. All Americans who claim the following tax deductions and credits would see their taxes raised without even a vote in Congress:

Mortgage interest deduction and the charitable deduction
State and local income, sales, and property tax deduction
Exclusion from wages of your employer-provided health insurance
Student loan interest deduction and teacher classroom expense deduction
IRAs, HSAs, and self-employed retirement plan deductions
All general business credits and the domestic production deduction (Sec. 199)

I would venture to bet that Blago gave T an ‘earful’ of insider info re: hardcore, insider, thuggery Chicago politics and O…

…for all we know, T was beginning his plan to run when he had Blago on his show and got an insider’s line to the dirty little secrets of chicago that no one is supposed to…

——–
Very good point. Oh dah, I didn’t think of that, Blago is a real talker, and I am sure we would be happy to finally get someone that will listen to his side of the story. And, the Donald was sure fired up after that show, to take down Barry.

I love Trump’s answers to the whiner that worries, “…ah, dah, wouldn’t that be stealing their oil. Waa, we would have to put a gazillion soldiers in the oil fields to protect them….wa….”

Jeeze, the Trumpster makes these babies look like total morons.

(from Mrs. S)

….Trump: Oh, it’s so easy George. It’s so easy. It’s all about the messenger. They wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for us. If it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be there. These 12 guys sit around a table and they say, “Let’s just screw the United States.” </b)And frankly, the rest of the world. (Could Trump put it more bluntly? I think not.) 😉
…
Stephanopoulos: And so finish this sentence. “If you don’t produce more oil…”

Yup, he doesn’t waste his time making lofty statements or name calling politicos in faux rage heralding the sheep to follow him for his own aggrandizement. He is prepared to ACT and has a track record to prove his accomplishments. These are the qualities I like in a man- and it appears, most people think as I do- shunning the hypocrites whose wind never blow in the same direction two days in a row-

Republican activists in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina appear deeply intrigued by, and open to, a run by Donald Trump, the publicity-loving business tycoon and host of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” even as he perpetuates falsehoods about Obama’s citizenship and questions the legitimacy of his presidency.

“I hear more and more people talking about Donald Trump,” said Glenn McCall, Republican Party chairman in South Carolina’s York County. “He’s got people fired up.”

These Republican officials and activists stopped short of saying they see Trump as the eventual nominee. But they said their party is hungry for forceful, colorful figures to attack Obama and other Democrats on health care, spending and other issues.

In Iowa at least, there’s also widespread talk about two social conservatives: Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who would be the first president elected directly from the House since James Garfield, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lost his 2006 re-election bid by a landslide. Even Herman Cain, the little-known, wealthy former pizza chain executive, gets mentioned by Republican voters who will have the first crack at winnowing the GOP field.

While these people certainly have talents, the party’s establishment does not see them as the likeliest contenders to defeat Obama. Karl Rove, architect of George W. Bush’s two presidential wins, calls Trump “a joke candidate.”

Republicans traditionally pick party veterans who wait their turn and earn their nominations after years spent as governors, senators or vice presidents. But this field lacks a front-runner like Bob Dole in 1996 or George W. Bush in 2000. There’s a political vacuum in the GOP, insiders say, and it’s being filled by an unusually large and diverse number of White House hopefuls.

“It’s probably the most wide open field in 50 years,” said Stephen Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member and head of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. “I’m not sure anyone has caught fire yet.”

South Carolina Republican Party chairwoman Karen Floyd said, “It’s any candidate’s ballgame right now.” Kim Lehman, another RNC member from Iowa, said voters haven’t locked in on any one person. “Everyone is taking their time and seeing who’s who, and what’s what,” she said.

Palin’s apparent fade and Trump’s rise are arguably the most surprising events in recent weeks, as more establishment-oriented contenders, including former governors Romney of Massachusetts and Pawlenty of Minnesota, took formal steps toward full-fledged candidacies.

By signing the form before a notary public, the candidate swears to the fact that he meets the constitutional requirements for holding the office he seeks.

I did write an email to the Secretary of State Jan Brewer in October of 2008 asking if the SOS had authority to review presidential qualifications.

She said the time to challenge a candidate’s qualifications ended in June and “[m]oreover, questions regarding the qualifications of the person elected President of the United States will have to be resolved at the federal level.”

Rereading her response today leaves me somewhat confused. I can challenge the candidate’s qualifications but questions of the qualifications will have to be resolved at the federal level.

I’m not sure where that leaves me. Is she in effect saying that I can present all the evidence I want but only Congress can resolve the issue?

TOn April 20th, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Secretary of State Dr. Henry A. Kissinger will participate in the first of a series called “Conversations on Diplomacy, Moderated by Charlie Rose.”

The Conversation will enable the Secretaries to discuss the issues of the day and reflect on their experiences as America’s top diplomat. Emmy award-winning journalist Charlie Rose is the host of “Charlie Rose,” the nightly PBS program that engages the world’s best thinkers, writers, politicians, business leaders, scientists and other newsmakers. “Charlie Rose” also airs on Bloomberg TV globally.

The event and the ensuing series of conversations is part of the 50th Anniversary Patrons of Diplomacy Initiative for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the Department of State.

For fifty years, the art of diplomacy has thrived in the State Department’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms against a stunning backdrop of American art and architecture from the time of our country’s founding and its formative years. The historic suite of forty-two rooms contains a museum-caliber collection of American fine and decorative art, including 5,000 objects from the period of 1750-1825. In these rooms, the United States has signed treaties and conducted summit negotiations, hosted peace talks and facilitated trade agreements.

The Patrons of Diplomacy Initiative will ensure that the Rooms and collection continue to providshould be a real treat.Henry K.has praised Hillary for her work as SoS.

(Reuters) – Leading Republicans are mounting an attack on real estate tycoon Donald Trump, worried that his flirtation with a 2012 presidential run hurts their chances to field a serious challenge to Barack Obama.

Many Republican officials doubt the billionaire and celebrity TV star known as The Donald actually wants the pain and suffering that comes with a presidential campaign. They see him as a self-promoting publicity hound and his talk of a White House bid as a stunt drawing more attention to himself.

But polls show Trump getting a bounce from his highly public consideration of a campaign and his foray into “birther” politics, the idea some conservatives cling to that Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii and so can not legally hold the presidency.

Concerns voiced by party elites suggest they are worried that the news media’s fascination with Trump is crowding out some of the attention normally bestowed on the most serious of the Republican candidates.

Even if Trump emerged victorious as the Republican nominee, influential party players seem to doubt that he’d be able to defeat Obama.

Karl Rove, who was the architect of Republican George W. Bush’s two presidential victories, called Trump a “joke candidate” for focusing on Obama’s birth certificate.

“The guy is smarter than this,” Rove told Fox News.

The Club for Growth, a conservative economic group, pointed to a statement that Trump had made in the past in support of government-run healthcare to denounce him as a liberal.

“Donald Trump for President? You’ve got to be joking,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Donald Trump has advocated for massive tax increases that display a stunning lack of knowledge of how to create jobs.”

And conservative newspaper columnist George Will told ABC News’ “This Week” online “Green Room” segment that Trump is a “blatherskite.””

“That is a word my grandmother was fond of as someone who blathers promiscuously,” Will said.

All this leads Jennifer Cook, a political expert at the non-partisan Cook Political Report, to conclude: “It does seem that the GOP establishment is now engaged in a serious effort to undermine Trump’s candidacy.”

‘NEW VOICE’

Trump is waving all the criticism aside, and holding interview after interview to rip Obama, Middle Eastern oil barons, Bush and even China.

“If we stop buying from China, China will go down like no other country has ever gone down before,” he told Reuters last week. “China needs us more than we need them.”

votermom @ 2:01: I do not pretend to know what Sarah will do and like the Globe, I have been caught calling her out, but yesterday there was an email announcing her new website. I’ve had just a quick look there, but it is most impressive … includes speeches and transcripts of them, a fact check tab and more. So your is probably on the mark.http://www.sarahpac.com

…I think one of the best ways to deal with O is to go at him directly…for example the way that Texan reporter did…O is so used to using his charm and so comfortable with the unspoken agreement he has with the press that he is only going to get softballs and certainly no one is going near any taboo questions…

O is so thin skinned it is unbelievable…he has that ‘how dare you’ attitude…like he is untouchable…so above it all…all he needs is someone to take him on directly and he is going to crack…

SO…

if the press and T can go at him directly, especially if T gets to engage O directly…that is what will completely throw O off balance…and if he does not have his ‘telli’prompter and/or notes…he will be so flabbergasted and shocked he will certainly revert to that intense stare/glare and stutter his has…

Listen closely to the president of the United States these days, and you will hear the creaks and groans of an American male nearing the midcentury mark.

Barack Obama will turn 50 just a few months from now, on August 4 — a milestone that already seems to be shadowing the presidential mood. In recent speeches, references to the burdens of office are woven constantly with references to the burdens of middle age.

*** Did last week’s speech backfire? A new Washington Post/ABC poll — which shows President Obama’s approval down to 47%, and with 44% believing the U.S. economy is getting worse (when employment is actually on the rise) — suggests that the climbing gas prices have soured the public’s mood, big time. “Almost eight in 10 say inflation in their area is getting worse, and more than seven in 10 say higher gasoline prices is causing financial hardship at home,” the Post writes. But this poll, as well as the Gallup surveys, also seems to confirm that the president’s speech last week might not have played well. For one thing, and this is true going back to the ’08 campaign, Obama usually doesn’t get rewarded when he comes off as too partisan (even though the left loves it). More importantly, last week’s speech was on a topic — the deficit/debt — that most Americans don’t find as important as the economy/jobs. And in the Post/ABC poll, Obama took a hit with independents, with 55% of them disapproving of his job.

In three weeks, Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party will host the first debate of the 2012 presidential primary season. A new Washington Post/ABC poll finds that none of the possible Republican contenders is currently running ahead of President Obama in a head-to-head match-up. And less than half of Republicans and Independents who lean to the right are pleased with list of Republicans most likely to make a run.

The charismatically-challenged cast of Republican candidates likely to be on camera for that first debate is expected to include: Tim Pawlenty , Rick Santorum, Haley Barbour, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Now, against those nice but uninspiring candidates throw in billionaire Donald Trump. Let your imagination run wild. Let the fun begin. The blunt-talking real estate developer and reality television super-star has indicated that he may very well announce his bid for the White House in the coming weeks. If he does he will be on stage, too, because he qualifies as the leading Republican candidate in several polls. He certainly has the money and the name identification, two key ingredients for any successful run.

In a Republican field that is simultaneously wide open and overcrowded, the 64-year-old magnate is becoming the focus of attention because unlike even the most radical Tea Party politicians he has no inhibitions about making outrageous statements.

In recent days he has condemned the Japanese, even as they recover from an earthquake, for “ripping us off for years.” He believes we seize Libya’s oil. This week Trump disparaged Mitt Romney as a “small businessman,” with far less wealth. He’s even made statements about African-Americans that could be interpreted as racially inflammatory, referring to “the blacks.” And he has even changed his position to become an opponent of abortion.

He has also become the nation’s leading “Birther,’ again playing to what some see as a racially sensitive issue, with his own investigators trying to dig up evidence that President Obama was not born in Hawaii.

There is no downside for Trump in this circus. He is not upset at the thought of losing because losing makes no difference to him. He is still getting publicity and raising the value of his brand. With a net worth of over $2 billion dollars to fund his campaign trump is says he still plans to ask people to send in campaign donations. He is rich but so far he has not spent a dime for all the free press coverage. And the bet here is that if he decides to run he will do it with other people’s money.

He may also lead the GOP down the garden path before deciding, like Ross Perot back in 1992, to run as an independent.

For leading lights in the Republican Party this Trump triumphant scenario is a nightmare. The GOP needs the election to be a referendum on President Obama. They need a reasonable, solid, non-controversial candidate to soak up all the anti-Obama energy in the country. The GOP cannot afford to play into the President’s political hand by looking extremist or frivolous.

The GOP empire is striking back:

Ari Fleischer, the White House Press Secretary under President Bush, said: “I’m sorry, I think Donald Trump is making a fool of himself. When you look at what he did, it is not presidential….you do not go around saying that our current president, who I don’t agree with, is kissing people’s a**. It’s just not the temperament people look up to in the oval office.”

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer on Monday night’s “Special Report” said, “It’s all name recognition. He is a celebrity, he is on television and a guy who talks about winners and losers. The vulgarity of him is offensive.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and former Bush advisor Karl Rove have criticized Trump for advancing the theory of the “birthers” who believe President Obama was not born in the United States. Here what Rove told Bill O’Reilly on March 30:

The right- wing base of the Republican Party — I’m part of that right-wing base — is not in love with the issue of birthers. I mean, there is an element inside the Republican Party and outside the Republican Party that’s fallen in love with this. But the vast majority of Republicans and the vast majority of Americans accept that he’s a U.S. citizen and capable of being president. And this is a distraction… This is a mistake. It will marginalize him. And he’s falling for Barack Obama’s trap. Barack Obama wants Republicans to fall into this trap, because he knows it discredits us with the vast majority of American people when they do.

While other potential candidates have given weak non-answers to the birther question, saying they “take the President at his word,” Trump lays it all on the line. “What is he, baby Jesus?” he quipped in an interview with Bill O’Reilly. “People have birth certificates…He doesn’t have one…Maybe it says he’s a Muslim, I don’t know” he said. “If he wasn’t born in this country, it’s one of the great scams of this time.”

So where does that leave us?

In a recent poll of Republican primary voters conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News, Trump tied with Mike Huckabee for second place with 17%. Only Mitt Romney, with 21%, garnered more support for the nomination. In a general election contest against the President, Romney comes closest to the incumbent, trailing by four points at 49-45, and Huckabee trails by 6 points at 50-44. This is at a time when 57 percent of Americans, according to the Post poll, disapprove of the president’s job performance, a record low for President Obama.

There is no down side to all of the media attention for Donald Trump. He has already pulled in the equivalent of millions of dollars in free advertising for his name AND the Trump brand. Whether he ultimately enters the race for the presidency or not, there’s one man in the Republican field who’s already laughing all the way to the bank.

When the even-keeled and cool President Obama gets prickly in public, it never goes unnoticed.

For Obama, who has carefully cultivated a reputation of easily managing confrontations with people who disagree with him, these moments are as rare as they are revealing of the person behind the presidency.

So it’s no surprise that Washington took notice when after a tense interview with a Texas TV reporter on Monday, Obama unclipped his microphone with no smile in sight, and tersely warned, “Let me finish my answers next time we do an interview, all right?”

The president of the United States was not happy. Obama had been corrected (he lost Texas by 12 points, not “a few,” in 2008), he was accused of punishing the state for political reasons (he denied that the White House had any part in the decision not to award a space shuttle to Houston), and he was challenged with the most basic of political questions: Why are you so unpopular in Texas?

And all that in a setting the White House anticipated would be largely free of tricky questions.

The conservative media type Matt Drudge broadcasted word of the interview on his website’s banner spot with the headline “First time: Reporter turns aggressive with Obama,” accompanied by the image of Obama, mid-reprimand.

On Twitter on Tuesday morning, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer took the bait by responding to the interview, which had been bouncing around the beltway echo chamber for hours.

The White House often expects the toughest questions from reporters outside of Washington, not the easiest, Pfeiffer tweeted.

The problem: The reporter’s questions weren’t particularly difficult, but they were clearly not what Obama was expecting. The result was a viral video that depicted Obama as angry when faced with tough questioning. And it unveiled some of the degree to which the White House would like to control its message.

Pfeiffer was asked by Time reporter Michael Scherer, “So will WFAA’s Brad Watson get another interview one day?”

Instead of quickly taking the high road, Pfeiffer suggested that Watson may truly be out in the cold after irritating the president. And he did it by revealing yet another trick of Washington communications: playing one news outlet against its rival.

“Right around the time we do our next interview with @TIME. I am kidding … or am I. @Newsweek is on the other line,” Pfeiffer responded.

It wasn’t the first time Obama has gotten a bit of bravado from local reporters who are granted a rare 7-minute one-on-one with him.

In March, just hours before Obama announced the attack on Libya, Philadelphia news reporter Jim Gardner was warned by Obama’s aides that he wouldn’t be taking any questions on that subject. Gardner asked anyway.

“I think as was already mentioned to you, I’m not going to comment beyond the statement that I made today,” Obama responded flatly.

That interview, which aired late on a Friday night, was buried beneath the news that Obama had ordered the strike. The White House had dodged another slew of potential headlines declaring that Obama had evaded a request to clarify the mission in Libya, but just barely.

There’s no question that there are significant upsides to the White House arranging local sit-downs. Among other reasons, the interviews shoot instantly to the top of local evening and nightly broadcasts in key battleground states like Florida, Philadelphia and, apparently, Texas. And outside the beltway, reporters might ask focused questions that give Obama a chance to circumvent the national narrative and pitch the local impact of his policies.

But Obama’s latest interview indicates at least some of the potential downsides. Obama’s prickly response to Watson’s questioning not only made the local news, but it suddenly became the national news as well.

**********************************************

…go directly at him…he is off balance…and cannot take the ‘audacity’ of anyone questioning or challenging him…

transcript, and video below it of the interview. Seems to me the videos better reflect the actual exchanges between George S. and Trump. Often, the “crosstalk” is understandable.

Navigate though the segments of the interview using the
« Previous | Main | Next »
located right above the title of the transcript.
The “next” option stops when you get to the end of the story 19 April.

There is a phenomenon among those who supported Barrack Obama during the Democratic primary and continue to do so even after two years of the most underhanded, dishonest Democratic presidency in history, who suffer from what I call Battered Obama Syndrome.

After Obama lies, reneges,does violence to and beats up Democratic values because he has no integrity and cant deal with Republican criticism, he shows up at the door with candy and flowers and many of those who stupidly believed him in the first place, take him back. Only to get beat up again another time on another issue. Only to take him back again after he shows up with more candy, flowers and empty words.

Obama sold out the public option on healthcare reform, the most effective and fundamental change in healthcare in this country’s history and the most far reaching legislation on an issue of justice since the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and he sold it out even though the votes were there in a Democratically controlled congress to pass it. Then lied in an interview on PBS and said he never campaigned for a public option.

Democratic supporters of Obama didn’t get angry, didn’t revolt, didn’t threaten to leave, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid let him get away with it, and when Obama showed up with candy and flowers making outrageously false claims about the four humped camel of a disastrous health care bill he did push through, the Battered Obama Syndrome crowd actually tried to make it sound like he accomplished something and that it was wonderful.

The same was true when he gutted financial reform, and the same was true when he didn’t close Gitmo and the same was true when he capitulated to Republicans and extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Each time he beat up the values of those who supported him, each time he proved he was never what he pretended to be and each time those too stupid, naive or too blind to see him for what he really was and always had been, took him back even though they had two black eyes.

We are seeing BOS rear its head again after Obama’s latest speech on the budget. This time he virtually swore, that yes, this time he will not extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy. He just wont. No, not this time. The Republicans are the ones responsible for the economic mess ( all true) and this time he’s not giving in. Really. Promise.

The reaction by many from Rachel Maddow, to the Progressive Campaign Committee and MoveOn was predictable. Battered Obama Syndrome reared its head again.

Maddow called his speech ” unexpectedly satisfying”, the PCCC called it a “powerful speech” and MoveOn was moved. As if he had never said these things before, as if he had never made promises before, as if he never made pledges before, and as if he never looked people in the eye and lied through his teeth before, as he if never reneged on every promise he ever made every time.

They say the start to solving every problem is to admit you have a problem. When those Democrats finally admit they have a problem and their problem was both their own blindness and willingness to throw their own integrity out the window and look the other way in order to support a dishonest duplicitous and clearly unqualified politician simply because of his race, (not exactly what Martin Luther King had in mind), and they realize Obama is the product of their mistake and he will never be any different than what he has always been, then there will be real change. And it will start with Democrats finally walking out on Obama, looking for someone new, and not ever going back.

wow, watch the bum’s face at the end of the interview as he takes his mic off.. look how like a thug he looks starting at around :27 but unfortunately camera cuts to the back of his head as he is scolding the reporter. Fuck the guy..

On April 20th, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Secretary of State Dr. Henry A. Kissinger will participate in the first of a series called “Conversations on Diplomacy, Moderated by Charlie Rose.”

————-

Wow. Hillary – Kissinger – diplomacy – Trump – together in my thinking at the same time and I have a lot of gaps.

Also, the word “diplomacy” is like fingernails on a blackboard to me, as I prefer “republic.”

Larry J is running a thread too and this comment from there is good. With only a bit of scrutiny from the press..

This is just one example of how badly the MSM served the people. It should only have taken a little bit of public questioning to goad Obama into revealing his true nature to the people. Obviously he likes the one-on-one interview because he thinks no one would ever dare ask him difficult questions face to face. Nobody told him that there are still journalists left in TEXAS!

You know, liberal media women don’t know how to fight like a girl. Last time Obuma invited a woman reporter from some small town TV/press, she was so nervous and flustered, at the end of the interview she got up with the mic still sticking to her which prompted the ‘baby jesus’ to say ‘easy, we don’t want any wardrobe malfunction’.. what a class act he is.

Comment seen on NQ: Watched Morning Joe and Donnie Deutsch was raving about Trump and how he could beat Obama – breaking from the MSNBC anti-Trump mantra. Deutsch is a friend of Trump and was certain that the more people trivialize him the more committed he has become to running.

You know, liberal media women don’t know how to fight like a girl. Last time Obuma invited a woman reporter from some small town TV/press, she was so nervous and flustered, at the end of the interview she got up with the mic still sticking to her which prompted the ‘baby jesus’ to say ‘easy, we don’t want any wardrobe malfunction’.. what a class act he is.

yeah, pm317…that was one of the genius ‘journalist’ we have in South Florida, her name is Lynn Martinez and she does a very silly, superficial entertainment show called Deco Drive in Miami with a guy named Luis Aguirre…

how she even got that interview is a big question…probably for the reasons you state…dumb, giggly cheerleader for O…

S, I could not remember where she was from. South FL is no small town, 😉 Obuma is doing a lot of these short interviews with many local TV/Press media bypassing the national media. Many are thrilled to pieces when baby jesus picks them, I hear. This is the thug’s way of keeping them in line and it backfired today with TX reporter.

pm317
April 19th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
S, I could not remember where she was from. South FL is no small town, Obuma is doing a lot of these short interviews with many local TV/Press media bypassing the national media. Many are thrilled to pieces when baby jesus picks them, I hear. This is the thug’s way of keeping them in line and it backfired today with TX reporter.
****************************************************************

yes, they did a whole segment on it and clumsy she was…and she was sooooo excited because she stole a WH napkin…

” would venture to bet that Blago gave T an ‘earful’ of insider info re: hardcore, insider, thuggery Chicago politics and O…

…for all we know, T was beginning his plan to run when he had Blago on his show and got an insider’s line
”

oh my! I completely forgot Blago was on the Apprentice last year. Very interesting, considering Trump is very savvy about the media, he might have been planning his run much earlier than he is letting on. That interview with the steanalogpolos he keeps saying “Just wait until I release what I found” makes me think he already has all the info and will release it as he needs to, making Waffles and the media that protects him look like a bunch of idiots.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Ulsterman still posts on Triond, but doesn’t talk about the Insider in awhile.
Guess his blog posting got to the Oval, and wonder if that’s why there are………………..crickets?

———-

“Ulsterman’s White House Insider Should Do More Than Post Tantalizing Information on Blogs” President Obama Said

The White House Insider reports are all very good fairy tales.

President Barack Husein Obama shared his opinion on Triond Ulsterman and his “insider reports” in the latest Alex Jones radio show.

Obama said: “If some kind of informant from the White House is giving away information to somebody, he is not giving it away for free to the unknown redicilous blogger named Ulsterman. So many people believed this it’s almost tragic.”

Alex Jones was little bit surprised by very direct and daring statement from the president.

“Ulsterman’s insider should do more than post tantalizing information on Blogs”, President Obama said.

This statement comes at the perfect moment after Ulsterman lost all of his support from the World Genuine Blogger Association.